Investigating the Use of Indigenous Languages in Nigerian Print Journalism: A Study of Yoruba Newspapers in Ekiti State

This study investigates the use of the Yoruba language in selected print newspapers published in and circulated in Ekiti State, South West Nigeria, examining the current state of Yoruba-medium print journalism and its implications for language vitality and media access. Indigenous language newspapers occupy a precarious space in Nigeria's media ecology, operating with limited circulation, minimal advertisement revenue, and declining readership as digital and English-language media dominate. The study adopts a qualitative content and discourse analysis methodology informed by ethnolinguistic vitality theory and media linguistics. A corpus of 24 editions each from three Yoruba-medium newspapers was compiled and analysed for editorial language choices, readability levels, dialect management, code-switching patterns, and topics covered. Supplementary interviews were conducted with six newspaper editors. Findings reveal that Yoruba-medium newspapers in Ekiti favour a conservative, literary Yoruba register that may be inaccessible to younger readers more comfortable with colloquial Yoruba or Pidgin. Editorial choices increasingly favour English captions and headlines as circulation strategies, undermining the indigenous language mission. The study argues that the survival of Yoruba print journalism requires strategic modernisation of editorial language policies and targeted investment in youth readership development. Keywords: indigenous language journalism, Yoruba newspapers, Ekiti State, print media, language vitality.