Abstract
This study explores how four Nigerian newspapers framed President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and its human rights campaign. Using newspaper editorials published in The Punch, The Nation, Daily Trust, and Vanguard newspapers of December 2019 as the object of analysis, the paper draws on the methodological context of such framing to investigate how the selected newspapers framed the human rights situation in Nigeria. This study asserts that those newspapers’ editorials used varieties of framing methods, namely: “unrepentant dictator frame”, “resistance frame”, “indifference frame”, “warning frame”, and “sympathetic” frame to portray the government’s disposition to human rights issues. Furthermore, the paper reveals that the Nigerian media is partisan when it comes to the struggle against human rights while their positions on national issues like the fight against human rights abuse are subject to ethnic and political influences, as evident in the Daily Trust editorial. The study also revealed that editorials can be used as essential tools to curtail the excess of government, precisely, to fight against the abuse of human rights. Finally, the paper recommends that newspaper publishers should limit their editorial influences in day-to-day administration of news outlet to engender objectivity, news balance and accuracy in order not to exacerbate the socio-political situation in a multi-ethnic society such as Nigeria.
Highlights
The main function of the media is to inform the populace of happenings within their surroundings continually
This study investigates how the editorials of four national dailies framed this issue, in order to contribute to this research area by providing a proper understanding of the relationship that exists between the Nigerian press and the government and how the Nigeria press has mirrored the government in the eyes of the masses
While it is pertinent to reiterate the Southwest region enjoys a heavy concentration of media organizations by virtue of the economic status of Lagos as the commercial hub of the country, it must be mentioned that newspaper ownership in Nigeria is domiciled mostly in the SouthSouth region of Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari is from the dominant northern region
Summary
The main function of the media is to inform the populace of happenings within their surroundings continually. Let us imagine a society without this essential function of the media; your guess is good as mine. As an essential agent of society, it serves the public by providing basic knowledge and information about events that affect them (Mboso & Ezeh, 2019). The media is an integral part of governance in issues regarding human rights. The mass media have a function to perform in raising awareness about issues and calling attention to whatever threatens human rights. Mboso and Ezeh (2019) believe that an important print medium of communication, newspapers, provide analyses, debates, and criticism of socio-political, economic, health, and a host of other issues to inform, educate and entertain readers. Newspapers as medium provide the needed background relevant to the news stories, details in the events-oriented phenomenon, and analysis of the critical situation (Okorie & Oyedepo, 2011)
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