Value orientations in press coverage of a national mobilization campaign

This study assesses the extent to which national Nigerian newspapers (5 of them government-owned and 4 privately-owned) are covering a government programme, Mass Mobilization for Self-Reliance, Social Justice and Economic Recovery, MAMSER, as a benchmark for determining the value orientation of these categories of newspaper ownership types and of Nigerian newspapers in general. It finds that newspaper ownership is an important factor influencing the performance of the press; government-owned newspapers are more inclined than than private ones to highlight cases of perceived 'success' of the MAMSER programme. But they are also less willing to report evidence of problems of the programme. It concludes that government press, more than private one, chooses to serve the limited interest of the government at the expense of the greater and long-range interests of the nations as a whole.