Newspaper Reportage of Cult Related Activities in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State
Main Article Content
Abstract
The mass media are formidable forces in creating social realities in conflict situations and represent selectively these realities through the process of news framing. Within this context, this study examines newspaper reportage of cult related activities in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State. The objectives of the study are to determine the degree of prominence given to the cult related stories in Emohua Local Government Area, and to ascertain how cult related stories are being framed and reported by Nigerian newspapers. The study anchors on the theoretical premise of Media Framing Theory. The study employs quantitative content analysis. The population of this study is limited to the publications of three national newspapers in Nigeria; The Punch, The Guardian and The Nation. The period covered is from June 1st 2021 to April 30th 2022. Within these eleven months, these newspapers had three hundred and thirty five (335) publications apiece making a total of one thousand and five (1005) publications. Purposive sampling was employs while the unit of analysis for this study consisted of news stories, editorials, advertorials, columns/opinions, interviews, feature stories and others focusing on cultism as published by the three newspapers being studied. These newspapers were chosen due to their ownership structure, area of coverage and frequency of publication. The findings reveal that cult related stories were not given prominence as was supposed to be. The study concludes that one challenge that will continue to confront the journalist as well as the media in general is the level of attention to be given to societal violence. The study recommends that newspaper reports should pay more attention to the issue of cultism in Emohua Local Government Area by giving more prominence to it and propel societal action against it.
Article Details
How to Cite
Queen Nneka Alikor. (2023). Newspaper Reportage of Cult Related Activities in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State. Polit Journal Scientific Journal of Politics, 3(3), 137-149. https://doi.org/10.33258/polit.v3i3.953
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Articles
References
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Aondover, E. M. & Pate, H. (2021). National interest, freedom of expression and the Nigerian press in contemporary democratic context. Brazilian Journal of African Studies, 6(11), 233-249.
Aondover, E. M. (2017). Peace journalism practice and development in the northeast of Nigeria: focus group discussion with some members of NTA correspondents’ Damaturu, Yobe State. Brazilian Journal of African Studies, 2(4), 210-226.
Aondover, E. M., Maradun, L. U., & Yar’Adua, S. M. (2022). Mediatization of the Net and Internetization of the Print Media in Northern Nigeria. Unisia, 40 (2), 335-356. https://doi.org/10.20885/unisia.vol40.iss2.art5.
Bakko, O.G. (2008). Mass media coverage of the Niger Delta crisis. In Journal of Media Research. 4(1). 57-69
Baran, S. & Davis, D. (2009). Mass communication theory: Foundations, ferment , and future (5th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Chakraborty, J., Borah, A.& Hazarika, M. (2015). From Fractures to Frames: Conflict Reporting in Newspapers of Assam. Global Media Journal, 6(1 & 2), 1-18.
Chew, C. K., Ahmad, F., Ibrahim, F., & Chang, P. K. (2012). Investigating news framing: a comparative study of media coverage on contemporary education issues in Malaysia. Jurnal Komunikasi; Malaysian Journal of Communication, 28(1), 17-31.
Chigozie, I.E. (2009). Objectivity and balance in conflict reporting: Imperatives for the Niger Delta press. In Journal of Pan African Studies, 3 (3) pp.90-104.
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Funmi, T.L. (2011). The factor of accuracy in Nigerian broadcast media. In Journal of Media and Political Violence. 3 (2). 73-86
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Himelfarb, S. & Chabalowski, M. (2008). Media, Conflict Prevention and Peace building: Mapping the Edges. United States: Institute for Peace.
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Ikon, A. O. (2016). UK newspaper coverage of Africa: A content analysis of the guardian, and the daily mail from the years 1987-1989 and 2007-2009. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press
Kaufman, S., Elliott, M. & Shmueli, D. (2013). Frames, framing and reframing. In: Burgess G and Burgess H (eds.) Beyond Intractability. University of Colorado, Boulder: Conflict Information Consortium. Retrieved from http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/framing.
Kuypers, J.A. (2006). Bush’s War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Li, X., Lindsay, L. F. & Mogensen, K. (2002). Media in a Crisis Situation involving National Interest: A Content Analysis of the TV Networks Coverage of the 9/11 Incident during the First Eight Hours. Paper Presented at the 2002 Convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Miami, FL. Retrieved from https://rucforsk.ruc.dk/ws/files/31230990/AEJMC%20paper%20Final.pdf.
McCombs, M., & Shaw, D. (1972). The agenda-setting function of the mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176-187.
Mojaye, E. M. & Aondover, E. M. (2022). Theoretical perspectives in world information systems: A propositional appraisal of new media-communication imperatives. Journal of Communication and Media Research, 14(1), 100-106.
Mordi, F & Ogbu, S. U. (2017). The Influence of newspaper ownership on the objectivity of the coverage of Nigeria’s 2015 Presidential election. European Scientific Journal13 (32) ISSN: 1857 – 7881
Myles, E.S. (2009). Empirical analysis of framing theory. In International Journal of Theoretical Studies. 3 (1). 1-15.
Ngwu, C.S. (2000). The newsgathering devices. In Okenwa, Udeze and Ngwu’s Media world… explorations in writing and production. Enugu: Bismark Publications.
Norris, P., Kern, M., & Just, M. (2003). Chapter 1: Framing terrorism. Retrieved from https://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Acrobat/Framing%20terrorism/Chapter%201%20Introduction.pdf.
Obot, C. (2004). Mass media and conflict management. In Nwosu and Wilson’s (Eds) Communication, media and conflict management in Nigeria. Enugu: Prime Targets Limited.
Ofuoko, A.U., Agumagu, A.C.(2008). Farmers’ perception of audio visual aids on technology dissemination by agricultural development programme in Delta State, Nigeria. Agriculture Tropical Et Subtropical, 41(4):192-196.
Okedi, J. (2020). Cults’ vernacular discourses and security challenges in Rivers State. Masters dissertation submitted to the department of mass communication, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
Okon, G. B. (2021). Advocacy Paradigms: Unbundling the albatross of journalistic inertia in Nigeria. Rivers State University Inaugural lecture series number 70.
Okoro, N. & Odoemelam, C. C. (2013). Print media framing of boko haram insurgency in Nigeria: A content analytical study of The Guardian, Daily Sun, Nation and Thisday newspapers. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(11), 86-94.
Omenugha, K. A. (2013). The sociology of crises and the responsibility of journalists in conflicts reporting for peace journalism. The Press. Abuja: Nigerian Press Council (NPC).
Pate, U. A. & Dauda, S. (2015). The media, responsibility and conflict sensitive reporting in Nigeria. In O.Ike, S. Udeze (Eds.) Emerging Trends in Gender, Health and Political Communication in Africa: A Book in Honour of Prof. Ikechukwu Ndolo (pp. 214-227). Enugu: Rhyce Kerex Publishers.
Pate, U. A. (2011). Issues and challenges of reporting diversity and conflict in democratic Nigeria. In J. H. P. Golwa & J. P. Ochogwu (Eds.) Media, Conflict and Peace Building in Nigeria (pp. 102- 222). Abuja: Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).
Schneider, Chamberlain, K. & Hodgetts, D. (2010). Representations of homelessness in four canadian newspapers: Regulation, control, and social order. The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 37(4), 147-172.
Udeze S. E., &Chukwuma O. (2013). Audience Assessment Of Broadcast Media Surveillance And National Security in Nigeria. In Covenant Journal of Communication (CJOC) 1(2), pp.181-195
Udoudo, A, and Bassey, B.E. (2011). Reporting political campaigns in Nigeria: A study of news coverage of ACN rally in Uyo by the pioneer and the sensor newspapers. In Journal of Communication and Media Research. 3 (1) pp.41-54.
Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Hanitzsch, T. (2009). The handbook of journalism studies. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.
Yar’Adua, S. M., Aondover, E. M. & Aliyu, M. A. (2023). Modernization, Marxist, Dependencyand Alternative Theories of Development Communication: A Critical Review. International Social Science and Humanities Studies, 3(2), 1-20.
Yoanita, D., Dwi-Nugroho. A. & Lesmana, F. (2015).Media Construction on Indonesia Political Conflict: A framing analysis of KPK vs Polri case people. International Journal of Social Sciences, 1(1), 426-436.
Agneza, B. R., (2004). Words before the war: Milosevic’s use of mass media band rhetoric to provoke ethno-political conflict in former Yugoslavia. East European Quarterly, 38 (4), 395-409.
Alabi, A.Z. (2010). Objectivity and mass media coverage of crisis in Nigeria. In Journal of conflict research. 7(1). 52-66
Anyanwu, C. (2004). Mass media and management of conflicts: An analytical discourse. In Nwosu and Wilson (eds.) Communication, media and conflict management in Nigeria. Enugu: Prime Target Limited.
Aondover, E. M. & Pate, H. (2021). National interest, freedom of expression and the Nigerian press in contemporary democratic context. Brazilian Journal of African Studies, 6(11), 233-249.
Aondover, E. M. (2017). Peace journalism practice and development in the northeast of Nigeria: focus group discussion with some members of NTA correspondents’ Damaturu, Yobe State. Brazilian Journal of African Studies, 2(4), 210-226.
Aondover, E. M., Maradun, L. U., & Yar’Adua, S. M. (2022). Mediatization of the Net and Internetization of the Print Media in Northern Nigeria. Unisia, 40 (2), 335-356. https://doi.org/10.20885/unisia.vol40.iss2.art5.
Bakko, O.G. (2008). Mass media coverage of the Niger Delta crisis. In Journal of Media Research. 4(1). 57-69
Baran, S. & Davis, D. (2009). Mass communication theory: Foundations, ferment , and future (5th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Chakraborty, J., Borah, A.& Hazarika, M. (2015). From Fractures to Frames: Conflict Reporting in Newspapers of Assam. Global Media Journal, 6(1 & 2), 1-18.
Chew, C. K., Ahmad, F., Ibrahim, F., & Chang, P. K. (2012). Investigating news framing: a comparative study of media coverage on contemporary education issues in Malaysia. Jurnal Komunikasi; Malaysian Journal of Communication, 28(1), 17-31.
Chigozie, I.E. (2009). Objectivity and balance in conflict reporting: Imperatives for the Niger Delta press. In Journal of Pan African Studies, 3 (3) pp.90-104.
Ekunno, M. (2011 September 26). Rethinking terrorism reportage. Punch Newspaper p. 16.
Ezeuzoh, J.N. (1992). Mystifying the technologies of war. A content analysis of the pattern of news and features report on the weapons of the Gulf war by Nigeria Newspapers. (Unpublished B.Sc thesis). Enugu State University of Science and Technology. (ESUT).
Funmi, T.L. (2011). The factor of accuracy in Nigerian broadcast media. In Journal of Media and Political Violence. 3 (2). 73-86
Goffman, E. (1974). Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. New York: Harper & Row.
Himelfarb, S. & Chabalowski, M. (2008). Media, Conflict Prevention and Peace building: Mapping the Edges. United States: Institute for Peace.
Howard, R. (2003). Conflict sensitive journalism. Copenhagen: International Media Support & IMPACS. p.8
Ibe, P.D. (2011). Constraints to effective conflict reportage. In Journal of Security and Crisis Studies. 11(2). 1-13
Ikon, A. O. (2016). UK newspaper coverage of Africa: A content analysis of the guardian, and the daily mail from the years 1987-1989 and 2007-2009. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press
Kaufman, S., Elliott, M. & Shmueli, D. (2013). Frames, framing and reframing. In: Burgess G and Burgess H (eds.) Beyond Intractability. University of Colorado, Boulder: Conflict Information Consortium. Retrieved from http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/framing.
Kuypers, J.A. (2006). Bush’s War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Li, X., Lindsay, L. F. & Mogensen, K. (2002). Media in a Crisis Situation involving National Interest: A Content Analysis of the TV Networks Coverage of the 9/11 Incident during the First Eight Hours. Paper Presented at the 2002 Convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Miami, FL. Retrieved from https://rucforsk.ruc.dk/ws/files/31230990/AEJMC%20paper%20Final.pdf.
McCombs, M., & Shaw, D. (1972). The agenda-setting function of the mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176-187.
Mojaye, E. M. & Aondover, E. M. (2022). Theoretical perspectives in world information systems: A propositional appraisal of new media-communication imperatives. Journal of Communication and Media Research, 14(1), 100-106.
Mordi, F & Ogbu, S. U. (2017). The Influence of newspaper ownership on the objectivity of the coverage of Nigeria’s 2015 Presidential election. European Scientific Journal13 (32) ISSN: 1857 – 7881
Myles, E.S. (2009). Empirical analysis of framing theory. In International Journal of Theoretical Studies. 3 (1). 1-15.
Ngwu, C.S. (2000). The newsgathering devices. In Okenwa, Udeze and Ngwu’s Media world… explorations in writing and production. Enugu: Bismark Publications.
Norris, P., Kern, M., & Just, M. (2003). Chapter 1: Framing terrorism. Retrieved from https://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Acrobat/Framing%20terrorism/Chapter%201%20Introduction.pdf.
Obot, C. (2004). Mass media and conflict management. In Nwosu and Wilson’s (Eds) Communication, media and conflict management in Nigeria. Enugu: Prime Targets Limited.
Ofuoko, A.U., Agumagu, A.C.(2008). Farmers’ perception of audio visual aids on technology dissemination by agricultural development programme in Delta State, Nigeria. Agriculture Tropical Et Subtropical, 41(4):192-196.
Okedi, J. (2020). Cults’ vernacular discourses and security challenges in Rivers State. Masters dissertation submitted to the department of mass communication, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
Okon, G. B. (2021). Advocacy Paradigms: Unbundling the albatross of journalistic inertia in Nigeria. Rivers State University Inaugural lecture series number 70.
Okoro, N. & Odoemelam, C. C. (2013). Print media framing of boko haram insurgency in Nigeria: A content analytical study of The Guardian, Daily Sun, Nation and Thisday newspapers. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(11), 86-94.
Omenugha, K. A. (2013). The sociology of crises and the responsibility of journalists in conflicts reporting for peace journalism. The Press. Abuja: Nigerian Press Council (NPC).
Pate, U. A. & Dauda, S. (2015). The media, responsibility and conflict sensitive reporting in Nigeria. In O.Ike, S. Udeze (Eds.) Emerging Trends in Gender, Health and Political Communication in Africa: A Book in Honour of Prof. Ikechukwu Ndolo (pp. 214-227). Enugu: Rhyce Kerex Publishers.
Pate, U. A. (2011). Issues and challenges of reporting diversity and conflict in democratic Nigeria. In J. H. P. Golwa & J. P. Ochogwu (Eds.) Media, Conflict and Peace Building in Nigeria (pp. 102- 222). Abuja: Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).
Schneider, Chamberlain, K. & Hodgetts, D. (2010). Representations of homelessness in four canadian newspapers: Regulation, control, and social order. The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 37(4), 147-172.
Udeze S. E., &Chukwuma O. (2013). Audience Assessment Of Broadcast Media Surveillance And National Security in Nigeria. In Covenant Journal of Communication (CJOC) 1(2), pp.181-195
Udoudo, A, and Bassey, B.E. (2011). Reporting political campaigns in Nigeria: A study of news coverage of ACN rally in Uyo by the pioneer and the sensor newspapers. In Journal of Communication and Media Research. 3 (1) pp.41-54.
Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Hanitzsch, T. (2009). The handbook of journalism studies. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.
Yar’Adua, S. M., Aondover, E. M. & Aliyu, M. A. (2023). Modernization, Marxist, Dependencyand Alternative Theories of Development Communication: A Critical Review. International Social Science and Humanities Studies, 3(2), 1-20.
Yoanita, D., Dwi-Nugroho. A. & Lesmana, F. (2015).Media Construction on Indonesia Political Conflict: A framing analysis of KPK vs Polri case people. International Journal of Social Sciences, 1(1), 426-436.