The Punch and Guardian the Newspapers Coverage of Terrorism in Nigeria From January to June 2018
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The main objectives of this study are;
- To find out the level of prominence the selected Nigerian Newspapers gave to the terrorism.
- To ascertain the magnitude of reportage accorded to stories on terrorism by the newspapers.
- To point out the direction on terrorism which were highlighted by the newspapers.
CHAPTER TWO
CONCEPTUAL REVIEW
PREAMBLE
This chapter presents the review of related literature. This is because every academic study to a large extent is a replica of what is in existence. That is, related to literatures that have been in existence. To what extent, this review covered the following sub-topics:
The concept of Communication
Communication is germane to existence, the soul of meaningful living. The need to communicate, to be understood and to engender change has informed man to seek expressive means to understand his nature and purpose and relate with his environment meaningfully. Hence, communication scholars have sought to break the concept of communication down to its constituent bits on the one hand, applying it to various practices and professions, and on the other hand, have elevated it to the most complex of forms so far as to envisage communicating with computers, which is known as cybernetics, or conversing with beings in space, to stretch the idea to the extreme.
However, the concept of communication is as pervasive as it is functional. It is, in fact, a term that has gained currency for its ubiquitous nature in all fields of human endeavor and sits prominently in conversations in formal or informal settings. This explains why Daramola (2003) notes that “communication is a catchword in contemporary culture, it is applied indiscriminately to an array of activities. Agreeing with this notion, Sambe (2008) explains that “We can do nothing without communication. Almost nothing.”
Etymologically, Hasan (2010) posits that communication is derived from the Latin noun ‘Communis’ and the Latin verb ‘Communicare’ that means ‘to make common’. Hence, communication is an act to attain commonality, speaking literally. It is an effort to create meaning that establishes cords of relationship and interrelatedness. Communication also can be seen as a happening, rather than an abstraction. In this sense, Hasan (2010) submits that “Meetings, conferences or even a procession can be as a communication event.” Breaking down the concept to relationships between people and the critical the role communication plays to stimulate understanding, Sambe (2008) produces a hypothetical conversation between a doctor and a patient:
[Take this] clinical diagnosis of a patient who might be very sick with meningitis. Perhaps by silent observation, the reactions of the patient may show signs which could aid the doctor in determining the nature of the ailment. This becomes clearer when the doctor asks some basic questions. From the patient’s response the doctor will be better equipped to help the patient.
Nevertheless, communication scholars, notwithstanding their peculiar persuasions, (notably Sambe 2008; Daramola 2003; Baran 2010; Hasan 2010) have agreed that communication is a process, running on a continuum of tits and tarts, a back and forth progression that ensures that an intended meaning is entrenched in the mind of participants.
In view of this, Sambe (2008) citing James, Ode and Soola (1990) states that communication as a process involves an action, reaction and interaction. Explaining further, he states that:
action refers to the initiative taken by the sender or source to share information, observation or opinion with others…; reaction as a response to the action taken by a sender, which determines whether the receiver is willing to be a party to the communication experience… and interaction being the spontaneous reciprocity of messages between a sender and a receiver
The process however is dynamic and requires certain elements that continuous interact to establish a sense of commonality. These elements were listed by Sambe (2008) as; stimulus, source, message, channel medium, receiver, feedback and noise. Considering this, Baran (2010) citing Osgood and Schramm, argues however that communication is a reciprocal transaction between a source and the receiver, whereby the idea of the source of a message is lost whence the message is replied as the initial source subsequently becomes the receiver of message gets to him. The roles in the transaction, according to him, reverse, making communication a process that is ongoing, continuous and responsive.
Much as there are different views on the concept of mass communication, with various scholars arriving at different conceptual conclusion, it is generally agreed that communication encompasses and dictates the affairs of man and its tools have helped shape civilizations from time immemorial. The controlling idea, however, is that the concept of communication is profitable to understand the abreaction that has permeated much of existence and has been one of the major features that have distinguished man from other animals.
The Mass Media
The mass media are agents of communication, tools through which information, entertainment and education are dispersed to the public and by which public opinion is influenced. They are synonymous with mass communication and have acted to distinguish it as communication fields, giving man a new lease of creativity to re-imagine his/her reality in fascinating new ways. The mass media are the most portent platforms, through which wars are won; friendships are formed and lost; acquaintances are made, and fantasies crystallized.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter focuses on the research methodology adopted for this study. Therefore, it provides explanations on the research design, population of the study, sample size, sampling techniques, instrument for data collection and method of data analysis.
Research Design
The research design adopted for this study was the content analysis research design. The content analysis research design refers to the use of coding sheet to content analyzed the messages of the newspaper. This content analysis technique used for this study was quantitative in nature and used for measuring variables which involves investigating the manifest contents of the media.
The content analysis is a systematic procedure or technique devised to examine the content of recorded information of the media i.e. the newspaper. Therefore, content analysis research design was adopted to enable the researcher to examine the manifest contents of selected newspapers relating to the extent to which newspapers coverage influence terrorism in Nigeria.
Total Issues of Publication of the Study
The total issues of publication were drawn from the Punch and Guardian newspapers, published in Nigeria between January 1, 2018 and June 30, 2018, with 362 total issues of publication.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Preamble
This chapter is designed to present and analyse data sourced through the application of the coding sheet. Thus, it explains the presentation of data by analyzing content categories which served as the variables which were used to answer the four research questions posed for the study through the discussion of findings, presenting the data in tables and drawing inferences that assisted in the understanding of the major preoccupation of the project. The data were collected through the application of the coding sheet to content analyse 156 issues published by the selected newspapers (The Punch and The Guardian) for the study which were content analysed. The choice of tables and percentages in this presentation is to ensure that data collected is relayed in a format that is as simple as it is explanatory.
From the table above, full page stories with 40 stories (25%) made the bulk of the 156 spaces allotted to stories on terrorism, followed by half page with 38 stories (38%), followed by less than half page stories with 24 stories (28%), with only 17 story (10%).
Comparatively, The Punch has more stories on terrorism on full pages against The Guardian.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
This chapter presents the summary, conclusion and recommendation based on the findings of this study as well as suggestions for further inquiry on the subject of this study’s interest.
SUMMARY
This study focused on The Punch and The Guardian newspapers coverage of terrorism activities in Nigeria. In other words, this study was aimed at examining the coverage Nigerian newspapers gave to reporting terrorism and how the challenges it poses to the country especially.
Based on the deduction from the theories of the study, the agenda setting theory and the social responsibility theory emphasize the role the mass media play in the society in the fight against issues such as terrorism that has adversely affect the socio-economy of the people in the society. The agenda setting theory for instance holds the basic assumption that the newspapers which are components of the media in the society are effective vehicles to indicate what the important issues in the society to its (society) members are. While the social responsibility theory holds mass media channels accountable to advancing the positive development of the society as the mass media channels are also vehicles through which ideas considered as new in the society are spread and communicated to the members of the society through the instrumentality of the media such as the newspapers.
The content analysis method was used to provide a solid framework for the study with the aid of a coding sheet containing three (3) content categories which served as variables for the research. Tables and simple percentages were employed for presentation and analysis of data gathered through the coding sheet. The data gathered from the content categories formed the basis upon which discussions were made on the findings. The study reaffirmed in strong terms that the Nigeria newspapers gave adequate coverage in fight against terrorism considering the amount of coverage on terrorism. This did not take into consideration that more of the stories on the issue bothering terrorism which were mostly features articles were published on the back pages of the newspapers. However, the study was able to ascertain that the newspapers gave high coverage to the issue through allotting more spaces in most instances full pages to reporting the issue in such a way that indicate the country’s fight against terrorists’ groups.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
The following were the summary of findings of this study:
- Nigerian newspapers gave adequate coverage to the campaign against terrorism.
- The newspapers in Nigeria also provided detailed, elaborate and explanatory stories in form of feature articles, while also campaign against terrorism at all fronts.
- The newspapers also devoted more of their spaces in the fight against terrorism.
- These newspapers also devoted their prominent pages (back pages) while campaigning against terrorism in the wake of the Nigerian involvement in the fight against terrorism.
- The findings of the study also revealed that the Nigerian newspapers gave favourable coverage to Nigeria’s fight against terrorism in contrast to what the foreign media are portraying Nigeria’s global fight against terrorism.
CONCLUSION
Based on the findings of this research, it is clearly indicated that Nigeria newspapers gave adequate coverage to the country’s fight against terrorism. This was clearly indicated with the amount of newspapers spaces, amount of feature articles and prominent pages these newspapers devoted in campaigning against terrorism
However, since the findings of the study indicated that most of the pages devoted to the campaign against the fight of terrorism in the newspapers were the back pages, there are likely tendencies that the media down played the threat a as placement of most of the news stories on the issue were mostly reported on the back pages of the newspapers, which implies that the stories were intended to be hidden from gaining the due attention it deserves.
Furthermore, the findings of this study has been able to indicate that the newspapers in Nigeria are significant and powerful not only in informing the society but in setting agenda for the society to act on.
RECOMMEDATIONS
Based on the findings of this study, the following were brought forward as recommendations:
- Newspapers in Nigerian should be consistent in their approach to issues that affect the society.
- Newspapers management should complement the high coverage they give to issues that affect the society by featuring such issues in prominent pages such as the front pages so as it can gain the due and deserved attention.
- Newspapers management must begin to develop a proactive culture against the reactive culture peculiar to Nigeria in issues affecting the society. Searchlight should not only be beamed on issues when they occur but before and after their occurrences.
- The general public should be encouraged to contribute their input to issues that affect them through contributing articles to newspapers for publication.
- In the face of the fight against terrorism in Nigeria’s government should partner with newspapers in promoting messages that would dissuade Nigerians from participating in terror acts either at home or abroad.
- While the online newspapers should be designed in such a way that would contain similar contents of the printed version, to afford Nigerians far away from home and the global community abroad a chance to be kept abreast of Nigeria’s fight against terrorism.
- The newspapers must also build a culture of following news stories to a reasonable conclusion.
REFERENCES
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- Guthrie, G. (2010). Basic Research Methods. New Delhi, India: SAGE Publications.
- Hallin, D. C. (1986). The Uncensored War: The social media and Vietnam. London: University of California press
