Abstract:
The mass media play a critical role in raising and creating awareness on issues that affect the society. One of such issues to which the media must bring to the attention of all-government and individuals in the society, is Maternal and Child Health. The study evaluates the reportage of “Maternal and Child Health Issues” in Nigerian newspapers from August 2014 to July 2015. The emphasis of this study is to assess the role of the Nigerian press in enlightening and creating awareness of the Nigerian public onMaternal and Child Health issues. Content analysis was the study designed used for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of the manifest content of the print media in this study. A total of 121 reports were gotten from the four newspapers, “The Daily Sun, The Vanguard, The Guardian and The Nation Newspapers” which were chosen for the study. Data in this study were presented in tables and percentages were used for analysis. The units of analysis for the study were editorials, features, opinions, news, pictures, illustrations, advertorials and interviews. Most reports on Maternal and Child Health issues in the selected newspapers within the study period had a favourable coverage but were not properly projected in forms of editorials and interviews to drive home the importance of the subject matter. The study concludes that reports on Maternal and Child Health issues were not given adequate coverage in the four papers studied. It therefore suggests that Maternal and Child Health reportage rates be increased in Nigerian newspapers to create more awareness to the public and influence government policies and actions towards Maternal and Child Health.
