The study was undertaken to analyse the newspaper coverage of cult-related crises in Niger Delta. The objectives were to ascertain the frequency of reportage of cult-related crises in Niger Delta by The Punch, Vanguard, The Guardian and ThisDay newspapers and determine the depth of coverage given by the four newspapers to Niger delta cultrelated crises. The agenda setting theory and social responsibility theory were adopted by the study. The population of the study consisted of 728 editions of the newspapers st th published between 1 October 2023 to 27 March 2024: A study period of six months. Using the standard set by Stacks and Hocking (1992), for every population size of 700, a sample size of 248, that is, 11.36% at 95% level of confidence was selected. Data were presented in tables and analysis done using simple percentages. Findings of the study reveal that, Vanguard newspaper carried the greatest number of stories on the cultrelated crises in Niger Delta. This was followed by The Punch, The Guardian and ThisDay newspapers respectively. Another finding shows that news content on the cult-related crises in Niger Delta lacked depth as editorial treatment of the subject matter was abysmal. The study concluded that, the four newspapers under study did not draw enough public attention to the cult-related issues in Niger Delta region using advocacy tools such as feature stories, opinion pages and editorial comments. It was, therefore, recommended that, the Nigerian newspapers should make concerted efforts to give detailed news on the various aspects of regional or communal crises, with adequate eyewitness and expert accounts. Also, that the Nigerian newspapers should go beyond the use of straight news in reporting communal or regional issues since straight news lack the potential to take readers beyond the level of ordinary knowledge about crisis.
Vol. 3, No 1, pp. 61-70.