Engaging Advocacy Journalism To Promote Rural Development In Nigeria
Ruth Barnabas, Ben Ita Odeba
Keywords: Advocacy, rural development, Nigeria, poverty, agricultural extension
Abstract
While conventional journalism prioritizes impartial reporting, advocacy journalism intentionally rejects neutrality to champion specific social causes, making it a potent tool for driving rural development initiatives in Nigeria. Development is a visible characteristic of developed nations of the world; but seems to be invisible in Nigeria and other parts of the “Third World”. This study examines the engagement of advocacy journalism to promote rural development initiatives in Nigeria. The study is anchored on the development media theory of the press; and it relied on secondary sources of data. The study’s findings recognized the value of advocacy journalism in promoting rural development initiatives in especially rural Nigeria. The findings identified strategic domains that advocacy journalism hold potentials to influence which include: education, community development and agricultural extension strategies. The study concludes that advocacy journalism is useful for the purpose of promoting rural development in Nigeria giving its strategic use by media practitioners to advance public policy initiatives, education and information among rural dwellers. The study recommends that advocacy journalists should promote and propagate the principle of economic development through self-sufficiency by encouraging the production and consumption of goods and services by Nigerians. The media should also focus on reporting issues that affect the rural populace for enhanced development and the media should draw government attention to the developmental needs of the rural people.
Author Biography
Ruth Barnabas
Department of Film and Multimedia Studies, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Bingham University, Karu , Nigeria
Email: [email protected]
Ben Ita Odeba
Department of Public Relations, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Bingham University, Karu, Nigeria
Email [email protected]
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6889-9356