1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The development of Nigerian politics is interwoven with that of the press. The early press, notably Townsend’s Iwe Iroyin fun awon oti Egba Yoruba, the Nigerian first newspaper was used as a political progranda tool to fight the colonial administration in Lagos during the struggle for Independence. Akinfeleye, R.A (1987) reports that the newspaper was so effective that the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in England found it necessary to caution Townsend over his “excesses” in 1963.
