This study is anchored on a range of perspectives regarding the traditional role of the mass media. Whitney (1975, p. 69) asserts that they inform, educate and entertain people as well as deepen their perspectives on issues, but Lasswell (cited in Popoola 2012, p.160) avers that surveillance of the environment, correlation of parts of the society in responding to the environment and transmission of social heritage from one generation to another are their topmost functions. Rao (1968, cited in Martin and Chaudhary, 1983, p. 102) says: “the mass media may not be the prime
movers of development in general, but they provide part of the necessary social interactions in a development cycle.†The reports in the Nigerian media on China, a key player in global affairs, were examined with reference to these perspectives. A survey carried out across print media establishments in Lagos, Nigeria, with agenda-setting theory as the anchor, found out that a major determinant of the way China was reported by the Nigerian print media was the newsy nature of developments back home in China. The newsy nature, however, was what the Nigerian editors
considered it to be.
Keywords: Reporting, print media, surveillance, correlation, framing, agenda setting, China, Nigeria.