Financial Journalism and Ratio-Based Reporting in Nigeria: A Content Analytical Study (2011–2021)

Abstract

This study, titled Financial Journalism and Ratio-Based Reporting in Nigeria: A Content Analytical Study (2011–2021), examined the extent to which Nigerian newspapers incorporated ratio-based financial analysis in reporting financial and capital market issues. The study analysed six purposively selected national newspapers in Nigeria: The Guardian, The Punch, BusinessDay, ThisDay, The Nation, and Vanguard. Anchored on Agenda-Setting Theory and Gatekeeping Theory, the study investigated the categories of financial ratios employed in newspaper coverage, variations in ratio usage across newspaper organisations, trends in ratio-based reporting over time, and the relationship between ratio analysis and analytical depth in financial journalism. The population comprised 21,900 newspaper editions published between 2011 and 2021. Using the Yamane formula, an initial sample size of 393 editions was determined and later increased to 407 editions to strengthen the robustness of the study. From these sampled editions, 1,181 financial news stories were analysed. Holsti’s inter-coder reliability test produced a coefficient of 0.78, confirming the reliability of the coding instrument. Data were analysed using descriptive statistical techniques, including frequencies and percentages. The findings revealed that ratio-based financial analysis was largely absent from Nigerian newspapers’ coverage. The results showed that, 90.7% of the analysed stories contained no ratio-based interpretation. Among the ratio categories identified, valuation ratios stood at 3.9% and profitability ratios at 3.6% appeared most frequently, whereas leverage ratios stood at 0.5% and liquidity ratios 0.3% were rarely utilised. The Guardian was the only newspaper that consistently incorporated ratio-based analysis, while the remaining newspapers relied predominantly on descriptive reporting approaches. The study further found no significant growth in ratio-based reporting between 2011 and 2021 despite regulatory reforms and newsroom digitisation. In addition, the findings established a strong relationship between ratio-based analysis and analytical depth in financial journalism. The study concludes that Nigerian financial journalism remains largely descriptive and insufficiently analytical in its coverage of the capital market. It therefore recommends increased investment in specialised financial journalism training, stronger integration of data-driven reporting practices, and enhanced collaboration between media organisations and financial experts to improve the analytical quality of capital market reporting in Nigeria.