Department of Mass Communication

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https://repository.run.edu.ng/handle/123456789/65

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Browsing Department of Mass Communication by Author "Lydia Oko-Epelle"

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    Audience awareness of radio messages on adopting malaria preventive measures among rural dwellers in Oyo state, Nigeria
    (Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, Emerald Publishing Limited, 2024) Lydia Oko-Epelle
    Purpose – This study aims to examine the audience awareness of radio messages on malaria prevention and how these messages have influenced the adoption of malaria preventive measures among rural dwellers in Oyo State, Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – This research adopted a mixed-method approach, combining surveys and qualitative focus group discussions to gather data on respondents’ attitudes, knowledge and practices related to malaria prevention. The authors used Frequency distribution involving tables to present quantitative data, while we deployed thematic analysis to present qualitative data. Findings – Results showed that most rural dwellers (86.5%) were exposed to malaria prevention radio messages. However, findings indicated that awareness alone did not influence the adoption of malaria preventive measures; instead, a positive attitude toward messages influenced the adoption of the malaria preventive measures. Practical implications – Radio stations should tailor their messaging to address daily malaria difficulties while considering the target audience’s culture and belief systems. Also efforts should be directed at developing messages that promote awareness and build favorable attitudes toward preventative measures. Finally, radio stations, government agencies and health-care professionals must work together to guarantee that malaria prevention messages are effectively distributed. Originality/value – The originality of this study comes from its unique ability to examine audience awareness of radio messages, mainly as it influences the adoption of malaria preventive measures.
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    GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (GBV) IN THE NEW NORMAL
    (Corpus Intellectual, 2023) Lydia Oko-Epelle
    Gender-based violence has become a social issue that calls for appropriate media coverage to highlight its threat to society. There have been more cases of rape, physical abuse, domestic violence, and sexual assault/exploitation, all of which have received little to no media attention. Hence, this paper examined Gender-based Violence in the New Normal: a Comparative Analysis of Selected Nigerian Newspaper's Coverage. The objective of this study is to ascertain the frequency of gender-based violence and comparatively analyse gender-based violence in the two selected newspapers: The Punch and The Guardian newspapers, which were purposively selected for the study. The Agenda Setting theory was adopted to understand how much importance the media places on issues to shape the public discussion. A quantitative analysis design was adopted for the study, and a coding sheet was used for data collection. To establish a comparative analysis of gender-based violence reports, Saturday newspapers from July to December 2019 (the period just before the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic) and January to June 2022 (the most recent publications) are selected for this study. The coverage of gender-based violence cases in selected Nigerian newspapers varied significantly between 2019 and 2022. As a result, more cases of sexual gender-based violence were reported in the selected newspapers in 2019, while more cases of physical gender-based violence were reported in 2022. Findings also revealed that, in terms of gender-based violence cases, the Punch newspaper outweighed the Guardian newspaper between 2019 and 2022.
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    Influence of Radio Messages on the Awareness and Adoption of Malaria Preventive Measures among Rural Dwellers in Osun State, Nigeria
    (International Journal of African Renaissance Studies - Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinarity. Roultege Taylor &Francis Group, 2025) Lydia Oko-Epelle
    Malaria remains a major public health challenge in rural Nigeria, despite efforts by government and non-government organisations to use radio for sensitisation on malaria prevention. The persistent prevalence of malaria raises concerns about the effectiveness of radio in raising awareness and influencing preventive behaviour. This study investigated the impact of radio messages on the awareness and adoption of malaria preventive measures among rural dwellers in Osun State. The study adopted the cultivation theory and health belief model as a framework, while using a survey method to gather quantitative data from 392 respondents in the Iwo and Ede-South local government areas between October and December 2023. Findings revealed that radio broadcasts effectively exposed rural dwellers to malaria prevention information and positively influenced their adoption of preventive measures. The study concludes that radio stations should engage rural audiences regularly on health issues to encourage lasting behaviour change. It recommends that radio stations dedicate more time to designing health messages that promote positive health behaviours. These insights provide valuable direction for policymakers and health organisations seeking to enhance malaria prevention efforts in rural areas.
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    Portrayal of Gender in Select Nigerian Mainstream Newspapers
    (GVU Journal of Communication Studies, 2022-03) Lydia Oko-Epelle
    The researchers examined the sexualisation of contents in select Nigerian newspapers. A total of three newspapers were studied. They are Vanguard, The Punch and The Guardian. The duration of the study was six months (January 1st, 2021 to June 30th, 2021). The purpose of the study was to find out how the newspapers portrayed men and women in their contents. Content analysis was used for the study with the code sheet as the instrument for data collection. Simple percentages were used to answer the research questions. The result showed that men featured more in political, economic, education, health and sports news. At the same time, women featured more in entertainment and domestic news. Women were less reported in politics, sports and economics. Also, the tone of the representation of women was largely negative, while that of men was positive. Thus, it was recommended, among other, that print media should break away from the stereotypical way of portraying men and women in their reports.
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    Visual portrayal of Monkeypox outbreak on BBC: is Western media biased against Africa?
    (Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication © Emerald Publishing Limited, 2024) Lydia Oko-Epelle
    Purpose – This paper aims to examine the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) portrayal of the May 2022 Monkeypox outbreak in the West. The Monkeypox outbreak and the outcry from African journalists on some Western media outlets’ use of black people to portray the Monkeypox outbreak informed the present study to investigate, through empirical evidence, whetherWesternmedia portraysAfrica negatively. Design/methodology/approach – The paper opted for the content analysis method. The news recordings from BBC News analysed for this study were archived videos on Monkeypox retrieved from Blob of Broadcast, an on-demand audio and video streaming service in the UK. Findings – Findings indicated that videos were the most used visuals by the BBC to depict the Monkeypox outbreak in the observed period. Findings also revealed that Black was the prevalent skin tone used in depicting those affected by the outbreak, while White was the prevalent skin tone used in depicting the scientists interviewed for their expert knowledge and at the forefront of the Monkeypox outbreak. Practical implications – The paper includes implications for Western media outlets on how to portray Africa and its people. Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified need to investigate how Africa is portrayed in Western media through empirical evidence.