TABLE
OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND
TO THE STUDY
1.2 STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
1.3
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.4 RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.6 SCOPE
AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
1.7 DEFINITION
OF TERMS
1.8 ORGANISATION
OF THE STUDY
CHAPTER
TWO
LITERATURE
REVIEW
2.0 INTRODUCTION
2.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
2.1.1 UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF MASS MEDIA
2.1.2 THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN SOCIETY
2.1.3 CONCEPT OF TERRORISM
2.2 MASS MEDIA AND TERRORISM
2.3 BOKO
HARAM CRISIS
2.4 BOKO HARAM AND
MASS MEDIA IN NIGERIA
2.5 EMPIRICAL LITERATURE REVIEW
2.6 THEORETICAL LITERATURE
2.7 APPRAISAL OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0
INTRODUCTION.
3.1
RESEARCH DESIGN.
3.2 STUDY
POPULATION
3.3 SAMPLE
AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
3.4 INSTRUMENT
FOR DATA COLLECTION
3.5 VALIDITY
AND RELIABILITY INSTRUMENT.
3.6 SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION
3.7 METHOD OF
DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRES
4.3 ANALYSIS
OF RESEARCH QUESTION
4.4 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION
5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
5.2 CONCLUSION
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER
ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
In today’s world, there is hardly a
day you will open any major newspaper or watch television without seeing a
report on terrorism; those news is usually back with visual images, depicting
the gory pictures of dead persons, maimed victims, collapse buildings as a
result of the impact of bombs, and carcasses of vehicles at the scene of the
incidents. Because of the limited knowledge of what constitutes an act of
terrorism; some journalists are always quick to brand all types of violent
incidents as an act of terrorism, including crimes of opportunities like armed
robbery, kidnapping, and murder. In all these, terrorists benefit immensely
from free media coverage, which help in propagating their messages. Terrorism
according to the defunct League of Nations (1937, quoted in Afowowe,
2011) described terrorism as "all criminal acts directed against a state
and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of
particular persons or a group of persons or the general public." Several
countries of the world have witnessed and are still witnessing one form of
crisis or the other. The Liberian war, Somalian crisis, Rwanda’s genocide,
Sierra Leonean war, Libyan crisis, Bahrain unrest, clampdown on Yemen, the
Syrian conflict and the Nigeria book haram crisis are obvious instances of the
above assertion. The outcomes of these conflicts, amongst others, have been
devastating and painful.
However, the role of the media in
counterterrorism strategy cannot be overemphasized because one of the major
objectives of terrorist groups is to get maximum publicity for their terrorist
act. The mass media especially the broadcast media through television has been
an effective tool for terrorists because of the images and pictures they
broadcast to the public. The images have so much influence on the public, the
policy makers, and thereby influence both local and foreign policies. It is
obvious that the violence and act of violence portrayed on the television
consciously or unconsciously are set of opinionated view of the editor or
television station, which may have serious control of how the public react. The
media is very powerful base on the image and pictures of violence been
displayed all the time about terrorist activities. The big question is…..should
the mass media give less publicity to terrorist activities? Of course, the
denial of maximum coverage to terrorist violent activities will cut short the
expectation of the perpetrators and make them not to achieve their main objective
of using violence to create fear in the heart of the public. There is no
doubt in the fact that the major instrument of terrorism is media propaganda;
any terrorist action without the media is of no effect on the targeted
audience. In the word of former prime minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher has widely
been cited by scholars (Muller et al. 2003) as saying that, “publicity is the
oxygen of terrorism.” The above assertion is understandable given that the main
objective of terrorists is to spread message of fear to as many people as
possible including those not directly involved in the attack; and the mass
media play a very vital role in achieving this objective. According to Hoffman (1998), a counterterrorism expert, he said
in his book that “terrorism and the media are bound together in an inherently
symbiotic relationship, each feeding off and exploiting the other for its own
purposes.” The terrorist always wants to communicate their revolutionary or
divine messages to a wide audience and they have recognized the potential of
new mass communication technology. At
the same time, the media will want to compete in breaking such news without
weighing the repercussion that such news may have on government policy. There
is therefore a symbiotic relationship between the media and the terrorism.
Furthermore, the
modern terrorist organizations today have access to the internet, affordable
video production and duplication process and the private, terrorist owned
television stations. Osama Bin Ladin, before his death, maximized the
opportunity of the new Media. He always sends his messages via the Internet and
YouTube. Mallam Ibrahim Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram in Nigeria has been
consistently using YouTube to send messages to the government and his followers.
However, in attacking modern terrorism, the media is very important.
While media censorship is not the best on the side of the government; on the
other hand, the traditional media operators must know the type of news and
story that promote the objectives of the terrorists and the news that enhances
the counterterrorism effort. Unfortunately, The Internet has expanded the
terrorists’ theatre of operation, allowing them to by-pass the traditional
media gatekeepers through the use of the cyberspace infrastructure.
In
the face of the current security crisis orchestrated by Boko Haram sect in
Nigeria, the mass media can play an effective role in resolving the crisis
through adequate coverage. The surveillance function of the media (beware
surveillance) must be effectively played, to warn people of an impending
danger. Through effective reportage, those perpetuating the crisis can have
their perception changed, and peace loving Nigerians can equally step up their
security consciousness.
It is against this background that
the research of this nature becomes imperative with a view to examine the roles
of broadcast media in recent Boko Haram crises in Nigeria.
1.2 STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
The mass media, as the fourth estate of the realm in
Nigeria is not only a powerful tool of national coexistence but an effective
tool in counterterrorism strategy and promoting security of lives and property
through its media contents that either come in form of news reporting, features
or editorial. That is why one of the major goals of the media is to spread the
message to more people than just those hit in a terrorist attack. Unfortunately
it is worrisome and devastating to note that the Nigerian broadcast media have
been a catalyst that lubricates the activities of Boko Haram through their
sensational report. This is manifested in the report of ethnic based media in
Nigeria. For instance, Agbaje (1998) observed that geographical/ethnic affiliation of
newspapers in Nigeria does affect their pattern of editorial coverage. Euwema
and Verbeke (1993) had equally noted that dysfunction occurred when journalists
working and reporting from each other's regions of operation could not free
themselves from their ethnic biases.
Lawal (2008) using content
analysis for analyzing three newspapers - Daily Times, New Nigeria, and Daily
Sketch, showed that ethnic loyalty rather than national interest determines the
stand taken by any section of the Nigerian press in times of crisis.
It is against this backdrop that this research tends to examine
the roles of broadcast media in their reports of recent Boko haram crises in
Nigeria.
1.3 OBJECTIVES
OF THE STUDY
The overall aim of this study is to
examine the roles broadcast media in the recent boko haram crises in Nigeria.
Objectively,
this research covers the followings:
(1) To determine the frequency and timely of reportage by
the Nigeria broadcast media in the recent Boko haram crisis.
(2) To determine the effect of broadcast media report in
the fight against Boko Haram crisis.
(3) To
examine whether broadcast media have objectives in their reportage of the Boko
Haram crisis.
(4) To
ascertain whether Nigerians perceive mass media reportage of the Boko Haram
crisis as glorifying the act of terrorism?
(5) To
examine the challenges facing broadcast media in their reportage of Boko Haram
crisis?
1.4
RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
(1) Do
Nigeria broadcast media has been frequent and timely in thier reportage of
recent Boko haram crisis?
(2)
Do broadcast media
reports have any signifiant effect in the fight against Boko Haram crisis in
Nigeria?
(3)
Do broadcast stations
have been objective in their reportage of the Boko Haram crisis?
(4) Do
Nigerians perceive mass media reportage of the Boko Haram crisis as glorifying
the act of terrorism?
(5) What
are the challenges facing broadcast media in their reportage of Boko Haram
crisis?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The significance
of this study are enormous in the sense that it does not only aim at
examining the roles of broadcast media
in the recent Boko haram crisis, but also imposing concrete and attainable
practical steps, through which the media practitioners can be strengthened in
the discharge of their social responsibilities. It is hoped that this research
would be of help to media practitioners and security experts to be more
conscious of the heinous activities of Boko Haram by using synergistic approach
to combat them.
Furthermore,
conclusion reached in this research work will serve as a crystal guide to
Government, policy makers, Nigeria union of journalist and all media
practitioners in Nigeria to identify which strategy should be adopted in the
use of media as an agent of anti-terrorism in Nigeria. This research study is
also justified on the ground that it will serve as a frontier of knowledge to
upcoming researchers who are willing to carry out similar research work.
1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This research work is not expected to span beyond
examining the roles of broadcast media in the recent Boko Haram crisis. However,
there are some hiccups that the researcher may encounter in the process of
carrying out this investigation which may constitute limitation to the research
credibility. Some of the limitations therefore may result from the reluctance
of respondents, in cooperating with researcher to provide needed information
for the purpose of this research, the cost involves in distributing research
instrument and in printing the project work, to mention a few.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
In other to ensure clarity, and simplicity of the work
as well as avoiding ambiguity, this section will be devoted to defining some
major operational terms used in this research work.
Mass
Media: This is a media that is intended for a large audience. It may take
the form of broadcast media, as in the case of television and radio, or print
media, like newspapers and magazines. In this research study, the word
media is used to refer to both the print and broadcast media as indicated
above.
Terrorism: This is the deliberate creation and
exploitation of fear through violence or threat of violence in the pursuit of
political change or any other reasons.
Boko Haram: Boko Haram is an anarchist Islamist sect that
focused its campaign against western education and democracy, and that the sect
has become a vehicle of disunity and religious conflict in Nigeria.
1.8 ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY
For the purpose of
easy referencing and consultation, the study span through five chapters.
Chapter one covers the background of the study, research objectives, problem
statement and research questions.
Chapter two contains the review of related literatures and the
theoretical framework underpinning broadcast media and Boko Haram. Chapter
three basically contains the methodology of the study. It includes population,
sample size, method of data collection and procedures for data analysis. While
the penulmate chapter covers the presentation and analysis of relevant data
collected for the research, as well as interpretation of findings or result,
Chapter five therefore comprises of summary, conclusion and recommendations.
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