ABSTRACT
This study was undertaken to examine the influence
of ownership in radio new coverage. Categories of media ownership in Nigeria
are private owned and government owned but, the researcher concentrated more on
government owned media since it is the researcher’s area of study. The point of
the study is to determine the influence of ownership in radio news coverage to
determine if, the news covered is owner’s interest or public’s interest
oriented. A survey of the selected broadcasting stations news coverage for a
period of two weeks was carried out with the use of questionnaires. The data
obtained were used to obtain the frequency for the study. The data was analyzed
using the simple percentage method and chi-square. This was used to obtain
percentage prominence and degree of freedom of news coverage the study. The
result of the analysis revealed that, radio news coverage is highly influenced
by the owner’s (government) and the news that is covered is owner’s interest
oriented instead of public interest oriented. The research also shows that the
government has influence on radio news coverage. Recommendations were made base
on the studies that the government should interference less in the running of
the station and focus on subvention and overall performance of the station as a
tool national developments covering news that are people’s interest oriented
instead of owner’s interest oriented.
