Abstract
Terrorism, understood, as the strategic and illegal use of violence to reach goals of either political, ethnic, or religious nature is not new in Africa has been one of the strategies of some of the freedom fighters in Kenya (Mau Mau) and South Africa (ANC) among others. It has taken a religious tone in the insurgent activities of such African terrorist groups as Al-Shabaab in Somalia, Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, and Boko Haram in Nigeria and Cameroon. The media do not only report about terrorism, and it can determine public perceptions of terrorist groups. Boko Haram (which translates to “no to western education”) is the most severe and dangerous terrorist group in Africa today, and its attacks have been covered extensively in the Nigerian media. This chapter is based on an empirical quantitative and qualitative analysis of how four Nigerian newspapers [Thisday, The Guardians, Vanguard, and Daily Trust of Nigeria] covered Boko Haram attacks. The Functionalist Theory of the Media is used to examine the media’s role of surveillance, correlation, transmission, entertainment, and mobilization in Boko Haram news. Data is gathered from newspaper reports within two weeks of the 2014 incident of the Chibok girls kidnapping in Borno State, Nigeria.
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