Air pollution is a huge environmental problem in Nigeria. It kills thousands of people yearly, yet it seems unnoticed by the society and unattended to by different levels of government in the country. This study examines how Nigerian newspapers pay attention to this deadly environmental problem in order to create awareness and arouse government attention to it. The study adopted the method of content analysis. One-year daily editions of three national newspapers from July 2016 to June 2017 were analysed. The newspapers are The Guardian, Daily Sun and Vanguard. The variables examined are the volume and the frequency of coverage, the genres of story used and the prominence given to air pollution stories. The result showed that air pollution was poorly reported by the newspapers. Air pollution reports represented 4.07% of all environmental news. Prominence given to air pollution stories was low as no report of the problem appeared on front page. Only 28.12% of air pollution articles featured on pages 2–10 as against 62.5% that appeared on pages 21–53. The frequency of reportage was sparse at an average of 3 stories per month. The newspapers presented 83.33% of the articles on air pollution as straight news. The level and style of reportage are not enough to create public awareness and provoke public discourse and government action on air pollution in the country.

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尼日利亚报纸对空气污染的关注

空气污染是尼日利亚一个巨大的环境问题。它每年杀死数千人，但它似乎没有被社会注意到，也没有被国家各级政府关注。这项研究调查了尼日利亚报纸如何关注这一致命的环境问题，以提高认识并引起政府对它的关注。本研究采用内容分析法。分析了 2016 年 7 月至 2017 年 6 月三份全国性报纸的一年日报。报纸是《卫报》、《每日太阳报》和《先锋报》。检查的变量是报道的数量和频率、使用的故事类型以及空气污染故事的突出程度。结果表明，报纸对空气污染的报道很少。空气污染报道占所有环境新闻的 4.07%。空气污染报道的突出程度较低，因为头版没有出现有关问题的报告。只有 28.12% 的空气污染文章出现在第 2-10 页，而 62.5% 出现在第 21-53 页。报告文学的频率很少，平均每月 3 个故事。83.33% 的报纸将空气污染的文章作为新闻报道。报道文学的水平和风格不足以引起公众意识并激发公众讨论和政府对国内空气污染的行动。33% 的关于空气污染的文章是直接新闻。报道文学的水平和风格不足以引起公众意识并激发公众讨论和政府对国内空气污染的行动。33% 的关于空气污染的文章是直接新闻。报道文学的水平和风格不足以引起公众意识并激发公众讨论和政府对国内空气污染的行动。