INFLUENCE OF NEWSPAPER FRAMING OF COVID-19 VACCINES ON THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF THE CONTROVERSIES IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper aimed to ascertain the influence of newspaper framing of COVID-19 vaccine controversies on the public perception of these controversies. It was a mixed designof content analysis and cross-sectional survey research methods, anchored on the frameworksof media framing and information processing theories. A multistage sampling technique wasemployed to select samples. Purposive sampling was used to select two national newspapersfor the content analysis study. For the survey, Enugu State was purposively selected and yieldeda sample size of 630, 700 from which 384 samples were obtained via Cochran’s samplingformula to obtain a representative sample. The quantitative data generated are presented intables as frequencies and percentages, and chi-square and logistic regression analyses wereemployed for the inferential analysis. Chi-square tests were used to test the significantassociations between variables, and logistic regression was used to examine the influence ofthe key independent variable on the dependent variable. At p<=0.05, the null hypothesis couldnot be rejected as there was no relationship between COVID-19 vaccine controversy framingand perceptions in the study area, among other factors. The study therefore concluded thatnewspaper framing of COVID-19 vaccine controversies did not influence public perceptionsof these controversies.