COVERAGE OF TIV/FULANI CONFLICT: A STUDY OF DAILY TRUST AND VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS. (MARCH 2014- MARCH 2015)

By

Author

Presented To

Department of Arts

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.