Viewers Assessment of the Performance of Broadcast Media in Reporting Flooding Issues in South-South Nigeria

Background: The broadcast media, such as television stations, perform diverse roles within society. The fulfilment of such is embedded in the normative function linked to public services, such as informing, educating, and entertaining society to address issues that affect them. Objectives: The study sought to ascertain viewers’ assessment of the performance of NTA and AIT television stations on the quality of news reportage of the 2022 flooding in South-South Nigeria. Methodology: The survey research design was adopted for this study. The population of the study was 2,751,455, of which a sample size of 384 was drawn using a multi-stage sampling technique while a structured questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. The results were analysed using descriptive statistics and presented in tables. Simple percentages and mean scores were used to analyse and present the data obtained for this study. Results: Findings showed that most respondents were often exposed to stories about flooding on NTA and AIT. Data also revealed that viewers of both NTA and AIT TV stations were exposed to the same content categories: compensation of flood victims, destruction of property, protests by flood victims, visits by government officials, and warnings about flooding. Results also showed that viewers have a negative assessment of the performance of NTA but a positive assessment of AIT regarding news reports on flooding in the South-South states. Conclusion: Viewers in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria were frequently exposed to both NTA and AIT. Viewers have a negative perception of the performance of NTA but a positive perception of the performance of AIT. Unique contribution: The study showed that viewers of television programmes in the South-South states of Nigeria are active interpreters of media text messages, and they look out for messages that explain the flooding situation to them. Key Recommendations: Since the South-South region of Nigeria is flood-prone, television stations should report various flood stories, including reporting more from the perspectives of flood victims. This is necessary because floods affect different victims in different ways. This can help them to plan well on how to handle flood issues.