Abstract

The United Nations reports that water scarcity will have an impact on one-half of the world’s urban population in the next 25 years.  The World Bank estimates that 60 million Nigerians do not have access to drinking water.  These shocking facts demand attention to water issues from scholars and activists. This exploratory study compares public discourse outside of Nigeria about The Right to Water to the discourse about water in five Nigerian newspapers. The research question is: To what extent does public discourse in Nigeria about water mirror the public discourse on The Right to Water outside of Nigeria?  Using the method of Critical Discourse Analysis the paper identifies eight ways of framing The Right to Water. In the subsequent comparison, the analysis reveals that the framing of the articles in Nigerian newspapers often centers around drinking water. This discourse typically does not include an explicit focus on “rights” as is found in the discourse outside of Nigeria. However, The Right to Water is implicit in much of the discourse in Nigeria about water. The implication is that scholars and activists must explore in more depth the practical, everyday consequences of the framing of water issues.

Key Words: Water, Rights, Public Discourse, Critical Discourse Analysis, Nigeria

About the Author

*    Michael Stephen Bruner, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Communication, Cal Poly Humboldt (formerly Humboldt State University), Arcata, CA, USA. His scholarly works include the book, The Rhetoric of Food (co-editor), as well as book chapters (in Landmark Essays in Environmental Rhetoric and in Protest, Politics, and Empowerment in Digital Spaces), and articles in many academic journals, such as International Social Science Journal; International Journal of E-Politics; Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies; First Amendment Studies; Communication Quarterly; M/C A Journal of Media and Culture; and Journal of Communication and Media Research.

^JCMR Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 16, No. 2, October 2024, pp. 1-7

© Association of Media and Communication Researchers of Nigeria (AMCRON).

Article Citation

Bruner, M. S. (2024). A comparative analysis of public discourse in and outside of Nigeria on the right to water. Journal of Communication and Media Research, 16 (2): 1-7.

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