developmental programmes are going on which are never chronicied, adding that because most Nigeria journalists and newspapers are urban -based, their perception of what is news differs from the rural areas to u rban centres. News reports about rural communities concentrate on disasters, failures, accidents, disputes and other negative acts or happenings.
According, Gadzama (1988) point out that in Nigeria, there are problems of inadequacy in the news coverage of agricultural and rural development projects when compared to other projects and sections of our economy. News coverage gives to community development projects is not comprehensive and efficient. It is superficial, partial not analytical and investigative. However, in its own appraisal of the issues of rural development ( problems) , the Nigerian Ministry of National Planning (1980) sees the situation from a different angle by pointing out that some communities have not been wise enough to know that “development does not start with goods and things.
It starts with people, their orientation, organization and discipline.†This contention is born from the fact that certain communities have shown indifference to their development.
On the imperative for rural deve lopment, Okonkwo Nkala argues that “ earlier plans were characterized by white elephant structures and super structures, conceived from the top and devoid of inputs from the end -uses – the masses..†This, must anchor and manifest on the ground, must involve the rural man in his rural setting.â€
2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND/ASPECTS:
Some of the relevant theories underscored in this research work include lass well’s Paradigm, social responsibility, development media and Democratic – participant theories.
Now, we shall examine the correlations existing between these theories and the research topic. To start with, their relationship lies in the fact that both the theories and the project topic are communication -oriented. Besides, the research work being a content analysis, answers one of the questions raised in Lasswell’ s Paradigm – who says what?
Meanwhile, the social responsibility development news as one of the obligations to be accepted and fulfilled by the press, notably the newspapers.
This theory originated from the work of the American - initiated Hutchins commission (headed by Robert M, Hutchins) of 1947, which was a “commission on freedom of the press.†It is a 20th know†and “the public responsibility of the pressâ€.
The basic postulate of this theory is that freedom carries concomitant obligation. In it, the press is to be responsible to society by carrying ou t certain essential functions of mass communication. As long as the press does not assume its responsibilities, some other agency, according to this theory, must see that the essential functions of mass communication are carries out (Slebert et al., 1956).
Over the years, two main ways have been generally adduced as solutions for achieving freedom and responsibility of the press: firstly, developing independent public institutions for broadcasting management.
Secondly, further development of professionalism as a means of achieving higher standards of performance while maintaining self -regulation by the media themselves.
Meanwhile, this study bears another correlation with the development media theory, which is mostly applied, in third world countries characterized by large numbers of undeveloped rural areas/communities. It focuses on the restriction of the freedom of the press with emph asis and target at development need of the society.
This theory, says, Okunna (1999:136)â€
Emerged in the 1980s to fill the void which became increasingly noticeable as the gap between the developed and developing countries widened. As the gap widened, it became apparent that none of the classical theories of the press was strictly applicable to developing countries, even though the mass media in these countries were operating according to some of the principles of the classical theories.
The development media theory is especially opposed to dependency and foreign domination and to arbitrary authoritarianism . It stands for positive use of the media in national development, for the autonomy and cultural identity of a particular nations socie ty and for participative communication models, which favour democratic, grassroots involvement. Development media theory emphasizes the acceptance of economic development and nation -building as over -riding objectives and so, expects that certain freedoms o f the media would be subordinated to these goals. Emphasis , here, is on collective ends other than individual ends.
The last theory to be addressed vis -Ã -vis the research topic is the democratic participant theory. This theory cannot be isolated from a study of this kind that has community/rural development as its target, considering the provision it makes for the use of any means of communication (participatory), preferably the newspaper for interaction in small -scale settings of community.
As a matter of fact, this the last of the politician theories. It arose mainly as a reaction against other theories and actual experiences and represents a positive move towards new forms of media institutions. There is in this theory, a desire for horizontal rather vertical (top down) communication. Its application is therefore in development liberal societies.
The stimulus for democratic -participant has been the reaction against commercialization and monopolization of privately owned media or monopoly jou rnalism (Okunna, 1999), centralism and b ureaucratization of public broad casting institutions. The expectations of social improvement and democratic change having been disappointed by a press that had become too elitist, too close to the establishment, too responsive to political and economic pressures, too monolithic and too professionalized press.
The democratic-participant theory is therefore, an expression of disillusionment with established political parties and the type of democracy that has detached i tself from its grassroots origins.
McQuail (1987:123) comments that there is a mixture of libertarianism, utopianism, socialism, egalitarianism, environmentalism and localism in the democratic – participant theory whose principles, inter -alia are as follows:
Individual citizens and minority groups have rights of access to media (rights to communicate) and rights to be served by media according to their own determination of need. Groups, organizations and local communities should have their own media small scale, interactive scale, one way, professionalized media.
It is noteworthy that the MacBride commission report (1981) shares some of the views of this theory especially as it concerns the interactive, participative, democratic ideals of communication.
2.3 EMPIRICAL ASPECTS
This aspect of the literature review deals with the result of findings from previous research carried out in this field of study- Newspaper Reporting of Rural (community) development problems.
The research conducted by Idowu coverage (19 85) on “influence of ownership on Nigerian Newspaper coverage on National issues†indicates that more urban news were carried by municipal newspapers than rural stories.
In his study on the “Relative Amount of Rural vis -à -vis urban newsâ€. O. Digwu (1989) c ontend that a whooping imbalance exists in the coverage of intr a-Nigerian news in the newspapers. He noted that news about rural areas accounted for only 17 percent of the stories found in Nigerian newspapers, adding that the focus mainly on negative rural news.
Alfred Opubor (1985) in a study on “Mass communication and modern development in Nigeria†discovered that the decentralization of the mass media is a sure way of guaranteeing national security in times of crises, pointing out that there can be no pr ogress unless beneficial changes at the local level.
Mile McAnany (1980) in his study of “communication in the Third world: The Role of information in Development†was
