Exploring the Relationship Between Exposure to Media Messages on Covid-19 and Compliance with Its Preventive Measures Among Residents of Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic that started from Wuhan, China in 2019, has attracted significant scholarly input.  Some scholars postulate that the media played a positive and negative role to control and prevent its spread.  Nigeria is not left out of this as the pandemic is also prevalent in the country. Therefore, this study examines media coverage of the pandemic in Nigeria and the correlation between the messages and compliance with the pandemic preventive measures. We used the Agenda-Setting theory, which describes how the media brings up specific issues to public discourse and prioritise them above other matters, making the audience perceive some critical topics more than others. We used the survey method and questionnaire to gather the data and used descriptive and inferential statistics to analyse them.  We found that the people had frequent exposure to media messages on Covid-19; despite the regular exposure, they complied partially with the Covid-19 preventive measures; there was a significant relationship between exposure to media message on Covid-19 and compliance with its preventive measures. Furthermore, the respondents had a high rating for the media coverage of the pandemic. We recommend that the public sustain the increased exposure of the media messages on Covid-19.

Received: 27 February 2021 / Accepted: 6 April 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021