A comparative study of two communication models in HIV/AIDS coverage in selected Nigerian newspapers

Abstract

The current overriding thought in HIV/AIDS communication in developing countries is the need for a shift from the cognitive model, which emphasises the decision-making of the individual, to the activity model, which emphasises the context of the individual. In spite of the acknowledged media shift from the cognitive to the activity model in some developing countries, some HIV/AIDS communication scholars have felt otherwise. It was against this background that this study examined the content of some selected Nigerian newspapers to ascertain the attention paid to HIV/AIDS cognitive and activity information. Generally, the study found that Nigerian newspapers had shifted from the cognitive to the activity model of communication in their coverage of HIV/AIDS issues. The findings of the study seem inconsistent with the theoretical argument of some scholars that insufficient attention has been paid by mass media in developing countries to the activity model of HIV/AIDS communication. It is suggested that future research replicate the study for Nigerian and other developing countries’ mass media.

Keywords

• HIV/AIDS
• Nigerian newspapers
• communication models
• activity-oriented information
• cognitive-oriented information
• developing countries