A comparative content analysis of the coverage of terrorism and HIV/AIDS by the Daily Nation newspapers and its sister publication, the Sunday Nation

Abstract

This study set out to investigate two critical issues in society today; namely, terrorism and HIVjAIDS in relation to the mass media. Specifically, the study was geared at establishing how the media disseminates these two issues. The research'compared how the media treats the two topics. The research methodology used was comparative content analysis. The study was based on the Daily Nation and the Sunday Nation papers of the period between November 2002 and February 2003. The units of analysis were articles published in those months. Frequency, that is, the numbers of articles, their placement in the paper, that is; front-page lead, back page lead, inside page and other variables were all used to analyse the content of the articles. The findings of the research showed that terrorism was given more prominence than HIV AIDS. This gave rise to the conclusion that the period chosen for the study when Kenya had just suffered a terrorism attack may have contributed to the extensive terrorism coverage. The study ends with a recommendation that the area needs more research, which should encompass more media and a longer period.