Content Analysis of Hate Speech in the 2019 General Elections in Three Nigerian Newspapers

Abstract

All over the world, hate speech represents a form of threat to damage the lives of individuals and increase the sense of fear in entire communities. The recent trend in journalism malpractice in the country is the dissemination of hate speech and vulgar language. In this perspective, the study examined the manifestation of hate speech in the 2019 general elections in the Daily Trust, The Nation and The Guardian newspapers. The variables of frequency, location, direction as well as journalistic genre were used to examine the manifestation of hate speech in the 2019 general elections by the selected newspapers. Stratified random sampling by days of the week was used to select the editions in the three newspapers. Critical Race Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis were used as theoretical framework. Based on the findings, the study discovered that the manifestation of hate speech was more frequent on Daily Trust, follow by The Guardian in the 2019 general elections. The findings reveals that the manifestation of hate speech by the selected newspapers in 2019 general elections was significantly high in the inside pages than front and back pages. The paper also found that the manifestation of hate speech by the selected newspapers was in neutral direction in the 2019 general elections. The study concludes that hate speech is a globally-endorsed paradigm and the press, as an important institution in the democratic process plays a key role during elections. As the Fourth Estate of the Realm, the press provides the platform for narratives and discourses in the service of elections, political negotiations and other features of the contestations among politicians and other civil organizations involved in election administration. Keywords: Direction: Frequency: Hate Speech: Journalistic Genre: Prominence.