REPRESENTATION OF FACE MASKS AS A PREVENTATIVE MEASURE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS

NDINOJUO, BEN-COLLINS EMEKA

doi:10.25200/BJR.v18n1.2022.1462

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Brazilian Journalism Research

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ARTICLE • Braz. Journal. Res. 18 (1) • Jan-Apr 2022 • https://doi.org/10.25200/BJR.v18n1.2022.1462 copy

REPRESENTATION OF FACE MASKS AS A PREVENTATIVE MEASURE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS

REPRESENTAÇÃO DA MÁSCARA FACIAL COMO MEDIDA PREVENTIVA DURANTE A PANDEMIA DE COVID-19 EM JORNAIS NIGERIANOS

REPRESENTACIÓN DE MASCARILLA FACIAL COMO MEDIDA PREVENTIVA DURANTE LA PANDEMIA DEL COVID-19 EN PERIÓDICOS NIGERIANOS

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Face mask was identified as an important nonpharmaceutical intervention in halting the spread of Covid-19 across the globe. Health organizations issued advisories accordingly on the use of a face mask in public. To understand how Nigeria newspapers portray face masks in their news reports, a content analysis of four Nigerian newspapers was conducted from February 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020, to understand how face masks are framed in news reportage. News stories with face masks in the title and context of the study were descriptively analyzed. Findings revealed an under-reporting of face masks in Nigerian newspapers. Images were widely used in reporting face masks and pictures showing face masks or people wearing them made up about 50% of the total pictures used. The deductive analysis found 17 frames and five of the frames were prevalent, they include: advisory, punitive, production, donation, and crime frames. The study recommends that Nigerian newspapers include more information about the use of face masks in their reportage especially those that guide how to select, wear and care for face masks if the war against covid-19 is to be won and enable society to function as it used to before the pandemic outbreak.

Key words
Face mask; Covid-19; Content analysis; Framing; Nigeria

S/No.	Newspaper	Frequency	Percentage (%)
1	The Guardian	34	14
2	Leadership	19	8
3	Punch	109	45
4	Nigerian Tribune	78	33
Total		240	100

S/No.	Newspaper	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sept	Total
1	The Guardian	-	-	-	-	-	12	12	10	34
2	Leadership	1	0	11	1	1	4	1	-	19
3	Punch	4	3	41	23	6	21	7	4	109
4	Nigerian Tribune	1	4	21	28	8	12	2	2	78
Total		6	7	73	52	15	49	22	16	240

S/No.	Newspaper	Local*	Neutral*	International*	Total
1	The Guardian	21	3	10	34
2	Leadership	17	0	2	19
3	Punch	95	0	14	109
4	Nigerian Tribune	69	1	8	78
Total		202 (84%)	4 (2%)	34 (14%)	240

	Genre	The Guardian	Leadership	Punch	Nigerian Tribune	Total
Total		34	19	109	78	240
1	Features	1	-	9	5	15 (6%)
2	Fashion & Beauty	3	-	-	2	5 (2%)
3	Health	-	-	7	2	9 (4%)
4	Interview	1	-	4	1	6 (2.5%)
5	Opinion	-	1	2	1	4 (2%)
6	Politics	3	-	1	1	5 (2%)
7	Religion	2	-	2	2	6 (2.5%)
8	Science & ICT	1	-	1	2	4 (2%)
9	Straight news	13	16	69	54	152 (63%)
10	World	10	2	14	8	34 (14%)

S/No	Newspaper	Stories*	Select*	Wear*	Care*	Total
Total		240	13 (5%)	11 (5%)	7(3%)	31(13%)
1	The Guardian	34	5	3	2	10
2	Leadership	19	0	0	0	0
3	Punch	109	2	2	2	6
4	Nigerian Tribune	78	6	6	3	15

S/No	Newspaper	Punishment
Total		63 (26%)
1	The Guardian	10
2	Leadership	1
3	Punch	33
4	Nigerian Tribune	19

S/No	Newspaper	Stories on face masks	Stories with pictures	Gender in pictures				Total
				Female		Male
				With face mask	Without face mask	With face mask	Without face mask
Total		240	211	57(11%)	141(27%)	119(23%)	200(39%)	517
1	The Guardian	34	16 (8%)	7	7	20	3	37
2	Leadership	19	19 (9%)	6	12	4	16	38
3	Punch	109	99 (47%)	13	32	52	65	162
4	Nigerian Tribune	78	77 (36%)	31	90	43	116	280

S/No	Newspaper	Total number of pictures	Picture credits	Picture caption	Picture of face mask	Picture of people wearing a face mask	Pictures without a face mask
Total		231	26	110	34	81	116
1	The Guardian	18 (8%)	10	16	0	9	9
2	Leadership	19 (8%)	0	0	5	4	10
3	Punch	104 (45%)	4	70	20	28	56
4	Nigerian Tribune	90 (39%)	12	24	9	40	41

S/No	Frames	The Guardian	Leadership	Punch	Nigerian Tribune	Total
Total		34	19	109	78	240
1	Advisory	7	5	25	14	51
2	Advocacy	4	-	-	-	4
3	Awareness	1	-	1	2	4
4	Beauty	-	-	-	2	2
5	Business	-	3	6	2	11
6	Crime	1	1	14	3	19
7	Demerits	-	-	4	-	4
8	Dissent	1	-	2	2	5
9	Donation	4	5	12	17	38
10	Environment	1	-	-	-	1
11	Fashion	3	-	-	2	5
12	Issues	-	-	5	6	11
13	Oddity	1	-	1	-	2
14	Opinion	-	1	-	-	1
15	Production	1	3	9	10	23
16	Punitive	8	1	30	18	57
17	Religion	2	-	-	-	2

Associação Brasileira de Pesquisadores em Jornalismo (SBPJor) Secretaria da SBPJor, Faculdade de Comunicação, Universidade de Brasília(UnB)., ICC Norte, Subsolo, Sala ASS 633 - cep: 70910-900, Brasília - DF / Brasil - Brasília - DF - Brazil
E-mail: sbpjor.dir.adm@gmail.com

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[1] BEN-COLLINS E. NDINOJUO. Lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria with over 8 years of research experience. His research interests include print media, development communication, and environmental journalism. Email: ben.ndinojuo@uniport.edu.ng