From 29 May to 12 June: Journalistic Framing of Change in the Date of the Commemoration of Democracy Day in Nigeria

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper investigated newspaper editorial framing of the change in the date of the commemoration of Democracy Day. The study adopted framing analysis as its research method. Drawing from Van Dijk’s (1992. “Discourse and the Denial of Racism.” Discourse and Society 3 (1): 87–118) model of editorial analysis which focuses on Definition, Evaluation and Recommendation, this research interrogates newspaper’s portrayal of the change of democracy day from 29 May to 12 June. To frame the issue, these newspaper editorials embarked on the remembering of the cancellation of 12 June elections. Based on the recollection of the past and the current events, these newspapers framed the shift in the date of the commemoration in contrastive ways, namely, as an attempt to rewrite the evil of the past and a spurious gesture. The study concluded by arguing that both media recollection of past and framing of current events were subjectively organised to achieve a specific goal. The implication of the study was discussed.