Newspaper Coverage of Women's Participation in the 2011 General Elections in Nigeria

In a representative democracy, which has been tested and achieved in varying degrees across Africa, elections are the means or a vehicle by which people make choices about who should represent them, as well as express preference for given policies. In Nigeria, elections are instruments of legitimisation for a political body. These cannot be achieved without a strong, fair, dedicated and responsible media. Promoting equitable, balanced and conflictsensitive election reporting in Nigeria's print media is crucial. This study ascertained how well Nigerian newspapers reported women's participation in the 2011 general elections. Two Nigerian daily newspapers were studied: The Punch and The Guardian (December, 2010 and August 2011). A total of 464 stories were gathered, out of which only 62 stories were on women's participation. The minimal visibility and coverage of women political actors in Nigerian newspapers is well revealed with 90 percent of the stories found inside the pages of the newspapers while there were no stories on the back pages