Role of media in conflicts management and resolution
Abstracts
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Abstract
While the media are known as information and entertainment source, some scholars (e.g. Galtung, 2002; Lynch, 2014) have also proposed peace advocacy as one of the concerns of journalism. This study provides an insightful account of a complex conflict- the Boko Haram conflict, in northern Nigeria. Boko Haram is an Islamic fundamentalist group that operates out of north-eastern Nigeria. With the Boko Haram conflict as the focus of analysis, this study examines conflict reporting strategies against the backdrop of the peace and war journalism model proposed by a Norwegian scholar, Johan Galtung. Galtung looked at the dichotomy in conflict coverage and views war and peace journalism as two varying frames in the coverage of conflicts. The study also examines national versus international media practices in the coverage of an intra-national conflict. Through content analysis this study concentrates on the coverage of the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria over a 16- month period by two Nigerian national dailies, Vanguard and Punch, and two United States’ dailies, New York Times and Washington Post, from February 1st 2014 to May 29th 2015. It considers the extent to which the newspapers covered the crisis based on war and peace frames as well as the dynamic nature of the coverage. Furthermore, this study also investigates whether the newspapers showed exclusivity in coverage towards war journalism or towards peace journalism or a combination of both. Within the period considered for this study, Boko Haram kidnapped about 300 girls from the Chibok High School, of whose fate uncertainty still prevailed as at the time of writing this dissertation. The study found that the Boko Haram crisis was represented in the newspapers examined as a thematic issue. However, the newspapers did not provide sufficient contextual and background information about the crisis. The media did not play active roles towards conflict management, as advocated by Galtung, and were involved in partisan reporting of incidents in the crisis. This study therefore makes a significant contribution to the debate about objectivity in news reporting and the role of the media for societal good.The research utilized both primary and secondary method of data generation. Instruments were adopted in gathering information for quality work. Instruments such as News-papers, internet, radio, journals and television were used to gather information about the activities carried out by the media in conflict situations. Other methods adopted were through questionnaires and interviews. Findings show that the media have a crucial role to play in conflict resolution. Findings further show that the media have not been giving objective reports and this tends to escalate the crises. Based on the findings, the research work concludes that the extent to which the media are used to resolve crises in Nigeria is minimal and recommends, among others, that the media should be constantly used to preach peace, so as to bring about lasting peace in Plateau state.
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