Bias And Ideology In Newspapers’ Reportage Of Herdsmen Related Crimes In Nigeria

Though media organisations hardly get involved in crimes directly, they have tendency to discreetly fuel criminalities through what, and how, they report. We examined how three Nigerian newspapers of different geo-political zones and socio-political ideologies reported herdsmen-related crimes betwe...

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Main Authors: Toyese Najeem Dahunsi, Omolola O. Ibiyemi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bejaia Abderrahmane Mira 2024-10-01
Series:The Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society
Subjects:
Online Access:https://univ-bejaia.dz/revue/jslcs/article/view/344
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author Toyese Najeem Dahunsi
Omolola O. Ibiyemi
author_facet Toyese Najeem Dahunsi
Omolola O. Ibiyemi
author_sort Toyese Najeem Dahunsi
collection DOAJ
description Though media organisations hardly get involved in crimes directly, they have tendency to discreetly fuel criminalities through what, and how, they report. We examined how three Nigerian newspapers of different geo-political zones and socio-political ideologies reported herdsmen-related crimes between June 2020 and June 2021 in Nigeria. The aim was to determine reportorial variations and account for such variations from linguistic perspective. Thirty major violent events covered by most national newspapers within the period were sampled. Headlines and sampled parts of the reports for each newspaper were analysed using the Hallidayan transitivity and textual analytical frameworks. The results showed that while two of the newspapers consistently concur in factual presentations (about participants involved in reported crimes), one newspaper consistently departs by reversing participant roles, de-emphacising participant information, mitigating casualty figures and outright exclusionary reportage. It is concluded that the manipulative strategies by the newspaper with substantial reportorial variation may all be intentional and connected with shared ethno-tribal and ethno-religious ideology between the newspaper’s owners and the groups constantly alleged to be perpetrators of the reported crimes. This manner of filtering and distortion bias has tendency for increased animosities and crimes among the various groups involved in the reported crimes, with cumulative influence on national peace and security.
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spelling doaj-art-5b521a64c46140cf85b0bdbca2a86b912025-08-20T03:14:02ZengUniversity of Bejaia Abderrahmane MiraThe Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society2716-91892676-17502024-10-0171Bias And Ideology In Newspapers’ Reportage Of Herdsmen Related Crimes In NigeriaToyese Najeem Dahunsi0Omolola O. Ibiyemi 1Department of English &Literary StudiesCollege of Humanities &CultureOsun State University, Ikire CampusDepartment of English &Literary StudiesCollege of Humanities &CultureOsun State University, Ikire Campus Though media organisations hardly get involved in crimes directly, they have tendency to discreetly fuel criminalities through what, and how, they report. We examined how three Nigerian newspapers of different geo-political zones and socio-political ideologies reported herdsmen-related crimes between June 2020 and June 2021 in Nigeria. The aim was to determine reportorial variations and account for such variations from linguistic perspective. Thirty major violent events covered by most national newspapers within the period were sampled. Headlines and sampled parts of the reports for each newspaper were analysed using the Hallidayan transitivity and textual analytical frameworks. The results showed that while two of the newspapers consistently concur in factual presentations (about participants involved in reported crimes), one newspaper consistently departs by reversing participant roles, de-emphacising participant information, mitigating casualty figures and outright exclusionary reportage. It is concluded that the manipulative strategies by the newspaper with substantial reportorial variation may all be intentional and connected with shared ethno-tribal and ethno-religious ideology between the newspaper’s owners and the groups constantly alleged to be perpetrators of the reported crimes. This manner of filtering and distortion bias has tendency for increased animosities and crimes among the various groups involved in the reported crimes, with cumulative influence on national peace and security. https://univ-bejaia.dz/revue/jslcs/article/view/344crime reportsherdsmenmedia biascritical discourse analysissystemic functional grammar
spellingShingle Toyese Najeem Dahunsi
Omolola O. Ibiyemi
Bias And Ideology In Newspapers’ Reportage Of Herdsmen Related Crimes In Nigeria
The Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society
crime reports
herdsmen
media bias
critical discourse analysis
systemic functional grammar
title Bias And Ideology In Newspapers’ Reportage Of Herdsmen Related Crimes In Nigeria
title_full Bias And Ideology In Newspapers’ Reportage Of Herdsmen Related Crimes In Nigeria
title_fullStr Bias And Ideology In Newspapers’ Reportage Of Herdsmen Related Crimes In Nigeria
title_full_unstemmed Bias And Ideology In Newspapers’ Reportage Of Herdsmen Related Crimes In Nigeria
title_short Bias And Ideology In Newspapers’ Reportage Of Herdsmen Related Crimes In Nigeria
title_sort bias and ideology in newspapers reportage of herdsmen related crimes in nigeria
topic crime reports
herdsmen
media bias
critical discourse analysis
systemic functional grammar
url https://univ-bejaia.dz/revue/jslcs/article/view/344
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