Conflict sensitive reporting in the Nigerian print media : Boko Haram crisis as a case study

Abstract

Conflict sensitive reporting has become an important field of research since the Norwegian prof. Johan Galtung started his research into peace and conflict resolution, which has been further developed by several authors, such as Mari Holmboe, Jake Lynch, Annabel McGoldrick, Erving Goffman, or Nadine Bilke. In the present work, this model has been used to analyse the conflict reporting of the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria, which has become the 2nd deadliest conflict in the country only after the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970 and has claimed more than 16,000 lives since its start in 1999. This research will conclude that the Nigerian print media were not equally conflict sensitive in the coverage of the Boko Haram crisis in recent period.