Coverage of Cyber-crimes by Select National Dailies in Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the coverage of cyber-crimes in Nigeria by select National Dailies. The aim was
to find out the frequency, prominence, direction and genre of cyber-crime stories in Nigerian
newspapers; namely, The Guardian, The Punch and The Vanguard. Content analysis was the research technique adopted in this study. The population of the study comprised all the 1095 issues of the select National Dailies between January 1 and December 31, 2015. The sample size was 400 issues from the study population selected through the systematic random sampling method. Findings showed that Nigerian newspapers gave low prominence to cyber-crime stories. It was also found out that newspaper coverage of cyber-crime in Nigeria was not impressive. It was therefore recommended, among other things, that Nigerian newspapers should engage in investigative journalism so as to monitor and report cyber-crimes in order to curb them.