Abstract

The mass media in Nigeria are viewed as aligning with political, ethnic and regional divides, reflected in the split, usually manifested in the reportage of events such as politics, religion, conflicts, etc. This paper analysed the framing of the bombing of Saint Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State in the Daily Trust and Guardian newspapers. Both newspapers were selected to represent the ‘Lagos-Ibadan axis’ and the ‘Abuja-Kaduna axis’ of the press in Nigeria. The study was guided by the framing theory: the idea that the way issues are presented in the mass media influence audience perception. The content analysis research design was adopted for the selected newspapers (one month period, Dec. 26 2011-Jan. 26 2012). Findings revealed that a split still existed in the mass media in Nigeria. Guardian, a newspaper based in the south was more critical of Boko Haram than Daily Trust. Guardian also gave more prominence to reports on Boko Haram that portrayed the group negatively, while Daily Trust had more of its stories tucked in the inside pages. The implication of this finding is the need for media practitioners to rise above mundane considerations when it comes to coverage of volatile issues.

Key Words: Media, Framing, Split, Boko Haram, Portrayal.

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 7, No. 2, October 2015, 109 – 125 

©Delmas Communications Ltd.

About the author

*Francis Amenaghawon is a lecturer in the Department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

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