Comparing the Nigerian press during the colonial period of British rule and the post-independence period, a case study examined two press laws: the Newspaper Ordinance No. 10 of 1903, and Decree No. 4 of 1984 (Public Officers Protection against False Accusation Decree). Using qualitative research methodology, the study investigated how the indigenous population reacted to the press laws. The Newspaper Ordinance law was selected because it was the first newspaper law enacted by the colonial government. Decree No. 4 was selected because it embodied all previously enacted post-independence press laws. Both laws were enacted by an authoritarian form of government--a colonialist/imperialist regime in one instance and a military dictatorship in the other. Analysis indicated that the introduction of the first press law met with public resentment similar to the public opposition to the press law enacted by the Muhammadu Buhari military regime. The objectives of the press laws were found to be about the same, and the rationales for public resentment of the laws were congruent. Also, the public had similar reactions to both press laws, and used the press (especially the letters-to-the-editor columns) to express their resentment. (Five pages of footnotes are attached.) (MM)