CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1.Background to the study

Media and society are closely related to each other. The extensive impact of media on society can easily be seen these days. Media reflects our society, how it works and what it constitutes. With the advancement in technological area, our society has also observed the expansion in the thoughts and ideas of people. Every single invention starting from the printing press to the latest smartphones our society has accepted it. Earlier people used to communicate things with   the help of sketch and print forms but as time passes the medium became more advanced.  Today people are just a click away from any and every information that is available on the internet. There are various forms of media that help to inform, educate and entertain our society. Media can be in print form that is through newspapers, books, magazines etc. Media includes an electronic form for spreading information which is one of the most used media of mass communication. With the help of radio and TV, listeners and viewers not only get updated but it also creates an understanding of current happenings. Radio being an audio medium helps in disseminating information to every nook and corner of our country. Radio has also played a vital role in creating a platform for imagination. The reach of this audio medium is not only limited to urban areas but it has covered a wide range even to the remote areas of our country. The people living in rural parts of the country are getting more benefits from the audio medium of mass communication. The programs  on  radio  cater  the  interest  of  rural  section  which  constitutes  small-scale  industries,  farming,  forestry etc.

Although the first reported case of Corona Virus 2019 was in December, 2019 with very little information passed concerning the outbreak that killed a total of 2000 people in China by Febrary 21, 2020 and On March 23 2020, Italy reported 602 new deaths, bringing the total to 6,077. There were other outbreaks of Corona Virus occurring as a result of different strains  SARS-CoV in 2003, HCoV NL63 in 2004, HKU1 in 2005, MERS-CoV in 2012.

The most protracted and complicated Pandemic of Corona Virus Disease (COVID) to date and the first globally started with 40 cases in Wuhan, China on December 2019 and this majorly and rapidly spread to other European countries such as Italy and Spain which recorded the largest amounts of deaths per day

In Nigeria, the first known case of Corona Virus came from an Italian immigrant who was already exposed in Italy. He arrived Nigeria on 22nd February 2020, The Italian, who is a consultant with Lafarge, reportedly spent the night at an undisclosed hotel near Lagos airport and moved to the company’s facility in Ewekoro, Ogun state, the next morning. He was said to have spent the night at Lafarge’s facility when he fell sick and was taken to the company’s medical Centre where preliminary diagnosis began. After testing positive for the disease, he was subsequently quarantined at the Infectious Disease Centre in Yaba, Lagos state.

The symptoms of the disease include fever (greater than 38.6°C), severe headache, weakness, diarrhea (rare cases), difficulty breathing (severe cases), lack of appetite, cough, sore throat, chest pain, difficulty in breathing, difficulty swallowing, impaired kidney, liver and Lung infection

Occasionally the country’s airwaves are greeted with the sad news of traditionally and culturally unfamiliar news of suicide. Whenever these odd stories greet our news headlines the country’s cyberspace (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) are a-washed with sober feelings of utter shock, disappointment and despondency and pity. The country is seen coming together for once and rising above political sentiments to sympathizing with the victims of these despicable acts. The reactions are not surprising as the acts of suicide are something that is yet quite uncharacteristically familiar with the Nigerian/African culture that holds life as a premium value that is divine (Alake, 2018).

The news reportage of the cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria and its possible attendant cause; death, Ill-health, Socio-economic paralysis, anxiety and fear (which could be caused by many Nigerian unique factors) has been severally reported with different truth variants and phases which begs the question of the truth of the fact.  Research on this issue has shown profoundly that there is a direct and indirect correlation between the media reportage of COVID-19

According to McQuail (1979) when looking at influence of mass media ones focus should rather be on comparing media reality and social reality in certain situations since the diatribe of influences stream from source of media content, consumers of media contents to shape of media contents. For example, according to Sampei and Aoyagi-Usui (2009) increased awareness and concern of climate change amongst the populace was as result of increased media coverage of global warming from January 1998 to July 2007.

A sample of the four major newspapers sampled showed that the stories on Corona Virus ranged from current information as it pertains to Nigeria with follow up on the occurrences in West Africa as well as globally made the rounds in the stories reported. A new dimension to the Corona Virus story came from the belief by people that were told to hot lemon so as to prevent the corona virus infection also was reported in the newspapers .The intervention of the government as well as media helped in curbing the spread of this false rumours on the Corona virus cases. The early reports on Corona virus were on closure of schools, large social and religious gatherings and late resumption of schools due to the Corona virus outbreak nationwide until some necessary measures were put in place to adequately ensure that the outbreak does not spread in schools as well as other mass gathering in the nation. The aim of the study was on Assessment of Bingham university students perception of the campaign against covid 19 in the daily trust newspaper 1st – 30th January 2020

1.2. Statement of the problem

Evidence shows that an outbreak of Corona virus disease recently occurred in Nigeria, involving many states and fatalities. The mass media can play a positive role in combating the corona virus pandemic and its attendant fatality in Nigeria. The mass media encompasses print and non-print methods of disseminating information (including magazines, newspapers, radio, and television) toa large number of people. One of the advantages of the mass media in health promotion activities and/or health intervention is that it can be used to reach very high numbers of people to engage in activities related to health behavior changes (Bala, Strzeszynski and Topor-Madry, 2017). Several authors have noted significant positive roles of the mass media in health interventions and positive impacts in the promotion of health behavior changes among people with communicable and non-communicable diseases, reduction of mental health-related stigma, and improvement in health service utilization (Carson, Ameer, and Sayehmiri, 2017). Based on the roles the mass media can play in health intervention, authors have described the mass media as an educator, supporter, and promoter.  Thus, the mass media can be utilized as an independent type of intervention for educating people and supporting lifestyle changes (Clement, Lassman, and Barley, 2013). In addition, the mass media can be utilized as a complementary form of intervention for promoting or supplementing the efficacies other interventions aimed at health promotion. Proper execution of mass media campaigns can help complement the efforts of clinicians toward the prevention of diseases (Stern, 2015).

1.3 Objectives of the study

The general objective of this research is to determine Assessment of Bingham university students perception of the campaign against COVID-19 in the daily trust newspaper 1st – 30th January 2020

1.4 Objectives of the study:

Study shall be guided by the following objectives

1. To assess the awareness presented on Daily trust newspaper on Corona Virus in Nigeria
2. To assess the perception of Bingham students on the effectiveness of Daily trust newspaper on Corona Virus reportage in Nigeria
3. To examine the impact of Daily trust newspaper awareness on Corona Virus in Nigeria
4. To examine the perception of Bingham university students about the source of COVID-19 reported in  Daily trusted

• To examine perception of Bingham university students about the mode of transmission of COVID-19 reported in Daily Trust newspaper
• To analyze the perception of Bingham university students about the symptoms of COVID-19 on Daily Trust newspaper
• What is the perception of Bingham university students on preventive behavior toward COVID-19 as reported by Daily Trust newspaper?

1.5 Research Questions:

Study shall answer the following questions:

1. What are the awareness programme presented on Daily trust newspaper that create awareness on Corona Virus in Nigeria?
2. What are the perception of Bingham students on the effectiveness of Daily trust newspaper on Corona Virus reportage in Nigeria?
3. What are the impact of Daily trust newspaper awareness on Corona Virus in Nigeria?

• What is the perception of Bingham university students about the source of COVID-19 reported in Daily trusted?
• What is the perception of Bingham university students about the mode of transmission of COVID-19 reported in Daily Trust newspaper?
• What is the perception of Bingham university students about the symptoms of COVID-19 on Daily Trust newspaper?
• What is the perception of Bingham university students on preventive behavior toward COVID-19 as reported by Daily Trust newspaper?

1.6  Significance of the Study

As the rate of spread of corona virus increases in the country, there is an urgent need for extensive research to be conducted in the area. Granted that for most the issue of suicide could be delineated to the field of clinical sciences, and research, however, research and information gotten from the field of mass communication could be of value to the general body of knowledge in bringing solutions to the rising problem of infectious diseases in the country.

According to the Bryant and Miron (2004), the high-frequency consumption of media content makes people susceptible to the views projected in the media content they take in.  If the assumptions are anything to go by then the need to investigate on the reportage of corona virus (one of the rising cases of cause death in the country) will be a move in the right direction.

This study will be of great help to media publishing houses who cover stories on related topics in order to help them shape their contents to be favorable to the health and psychology of their audience.

The research will add to the body of knowledge on the issue of Corona virus for scholars and research to build upon for further research.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This study focuses on Assessment of Bingham university students perception of the campaign against covid 19 in the daily trust newspaper 1st – 30th January 2020.

1.7    Definition of terms

Newspapers: Newspapers are written publications containing published news and information on issues periodically published daily. It refers to the newspapers that covered and reported about the issues relating to depression and suicide  in Nigeria.

Communication: This is the process of sharing of information which includes five basic factors: an initiator; a recipient; a vehicle or channel; a message and an effect. The initiator designs or encodes the message and transfer the message through the vehicle with the intent of stimulating an effect.

Print media: The print media refers to the channels of communication that present information on paper, published, printed medium such as newspapers and magazines as opposed to the broadcast media.

Coverage: Coverage refers to the amount or totality of news and information provided by the newspapers on issues through its contents over a specific period. It can also be defined as the way the Nigerian newspapers reported or gave account of issues pertaining to depression and suicide.

Suicide: The Cambridge dictionary defines suicide as the act of killing yourself intentionally or a person who has done this.

Virus: A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses can infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea

Pandemic: A pandemic is a disease epidemic that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents, or worldwide. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of infected people is not a pandemic. Further, flu pandemics generally exclude recurrences of seasonal flu.

Epidemic: An epidemic is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of people in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infections, an attack rate in excess of 15 cases per 100,000 people for two consecutive weeks is considered an epidemic

COVID-19: Corona Virus Disease 2019

Polymerase Chain Reaction: Polymerase chain reaction is a medical test widely used in molecular biology to rapidly make millions to billions of copies of a specific DNA sample allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it to a large enough amount to study in detail

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