ABSTRACT
One of the most serious problems facing Nigeria as a country today is
the high incidence of the Tiv/Fulani conflict. The conflict has become
so rampant that no day passes without an incident of conflict reported
in the national newspapers in one part of the country or the other.
Thus, it seems that the audacity of the perpetrators increases daily as
more lives are lost and properties destroyed. This situation further
aggravates other social problems including fear, anxiety and the feeling
of general insecurity which limits the effectiveness of national
development. What then is the role of the print media in resolving the
conflict in order to bring about peace and sustainable development to a
growing economy like Nigeria? The aim of this research is to explore
ways through which the media, particularly the print media can better
deploy effective communication towards conflict resolution. The major
objectives are to ascertain how newspapers report the Tiv/Fulani
conflict and to examine how these reports have resolved or negatively
affected the resolution of the conflict. The researcher interviewed the
reporters of both newspapers, which revealed that all newspapers under
study see their report as balanced and objective but this was disputed
by the Focus Group Discussion, and the analysis of Daily Trust and
Vanguard newspapers from March 2014 to March 2015 using their character,
word, theme and space, where some reports were seen to favour one party
against the other and this has caused death, hatred among members of
the community. Others variables include news stories, features,
editorials, cartoons and pictures. The social responsibility theory and
framing theory were used to underpin this study. The findings of this
study reveal that some of the differences in the perspective of the
Tiv/Fulani conflict are affected by ideological leanings, sectional
loyalties, biases, interest and misinterpretation which have negative
effect on the people like hatred and social unrest which eventually
leads to poor development. The amount of coverage given to the conflict
situation is often determined by the location and ownership of these
newspapers. The study recommends that engagement with the people and
ethical practices are imperative in order to avoid misinterpretation and
wrong framing of headlines and inside stories.