THE POLITICS OF INSECURITY REPORTAGE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

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THE POLITICS OF INSECURITY REPORTAGE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

Journal Title: WUKARI INTERNATIONAL STUDIES JOURNAL - Year 2024, Vol 8, Issue 1

Abstract

Nigeria is faced with different challenges that nearly comatose the security architecture of the country. In the geopolitical North, it started as mere conflict over access to land largely involving herders and farmers. It metamorphosed to gangsterism that was restricted to cattle rustling. The challenge has now snowballed into full-pledged entrepreneurial terrorism where the actors amass wealth through kidnapping, banditry, and other forms of criminal activities. Nowadays, no one is guaranteed of his safety in Nigeria, North in particular. With the use of the Political Economy of Communication, Framing, Social Responsibility, and Agenda Setting Theories, the paper reviewed relevant literature and established how Nigerian media used their organisations to report the phenomenon of insecurity both for and against the country’s national interest.The study found that many media outlets, both new and conventional, have over the years engaged inan unethical practice that both exacerbates security challenges as well as threatens Nigeria’s corporate existence. It is based on the foregoing that this paper analyses the politics – issues of religion, market, ideology, ethnicity, regionalism, and ownership - that shrouded the coverage of security challenges and the role being played by journalists in fueling or taming the security challenges in Nigeria.This is the major contribution of the paper to the existing literature, as it brought to the fore the character of the media in its reportage of insecurity in Nigeria, and this makes this research unique. Documented literature and participant observationmethods form the basis upon which the paper was constructed. The coverage of insecurity must be married with patriotism to safeguard the sovereignty and corporate existence of Nigeria. It is therefore instructive for Nigerian media to always report insecurity and conflict from a nationalistic perspective, which entails restraint in language use, framing of stories to promote national interest as well as de-escalation of tension.

Authors and Affiliations

ISA SA’IDU

Keywords

COVID-19 LOCKDOWN AND THE CHALLENGES OF FOOD INSECURITY AMONG HOUSEHOLDS IN SELECTED COMMUNITIES IN ZARIA AND SABON-GARI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

The restriction of people’s movement during Covid-19 lockdown has affected the abilities of many families in securing, either from their own production or through purchases, adequate food for meeting the dietary needs o...

EP ID EP744094
DOI -
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