AN ANALYSIS OF NEWSPAPERS IN THE COVERAGE OF KIDNAPPING IN THE SOUTH WEST NIGERIA: A COMPARATIVE REVIEW OF PUNCH AND GUARDIAN NEWSPAPERS
- Project Research
- 1-5 Chapters
- Qualitative
- Content
- Abstract : Available
- Table of Content: Available
- Reference Style: APA
- Recommended for : Student Researchers
- NGN 3000
Background of the Study
During the past decade and a half, Nigeria had an extraordinary succession of agitations in the form of kidnappings and abductions, armed robberies, bombings, and carnages of varying magnitudes. Despite the fact that kidnapping has occurred since the beginning of time, its prominence in the current administration is troubling, necessitating bold solutions to make Nigeria a safe place to live. As a result of its global popularity, kidnapping has become a generic term in both public and private speech. Kidnapping is a criminal conduct in which a person is taken against their will to an unknown location by another person for reasons unknown to them (Dulami & Busayo, 2013).
The media has always been at the forefront of reporting crime in society, supporting society in remaining informed about what is going on within and outside of it. The manner in which crime is reported in the media differs across cultural, ideological, and societal boundaries. In Nigeria, the media is usually blamed for fueling the crime wave by glamorizing journalism or failing to move beyond objective/neutral crime reporting storylines (Dulami & Busayo, 2013). It is pointless to emphasize the obvious: media coverage of crime may help people notice and distribute the issue constructively. This suggests that the media has a critical role in supporting society in combatting crime, including kidnapping.
According to Ngwama (2016), the phrase "kidnapping," which has become well-known and repugnant in the ears, was created by combining the terms "kid" (child) and "nab" (abduction) (to grab). Contrary to popular belief, the scourge of kidnapping in Nigeria has spread far beyond the abduction of children, with this administration witnessing a slew of mayhem and kidnappings of government officials, lawmakers, important individuals, professors, royal families, kinsmen, and even certain monarchs who were abducted from their palace.
Kidnapping appears to be easier than other forms of significant crimes. According to Davidson (2015), a gang of thugs equipped with pistols and mobile phones kidnaps unsuspecting victims and transports them to a secluded place where they begin making phone calls to whomever they can and demand a ransom. Police officers, who are entrusted with protecting the public, are usually unprepared for the task at hand. They assume their task is accomplished if they are able to locate the kidnappers, but they never hear from them.
Uzoma & Nwanegbo-Ben (2017) conducted a more in-depth examination of kidnapping and hostage-taking in southern Nigeria. Their research concentrated on Southern Nigeria, where the causative factors may be limited to economic difficulties, while the principal cause of abduction in the South-South is environmental conflict, while poverty and terrorism may be the key causes in the Northwestern and Northeastern regions.
According to Criminal Law, kidnapping is the unlawful transfer of a person, usually to detain the victim in false imprisonment without legal authorisation. This behavior may be committed largely for the purpose of extracting a ransom or in connection with child custody as a result of a marital quarrel. As a consequence, this study concludes that kidnapping may also be referred to as abduction or holding someone hostage in order to get a ransom from the victim's family, as a sacrifice for ritual money, or as an extenuating appeasement in order to obtain a political position.
In light of this, Nnamani (2016) confirms that the primary causes of abduction are avarice and quick unearned money. Other factors that contribute to kidnapping include moral turpitude, unemployment, the failure to enforce applicable laws, and political thugs' easy access to firearms and ammunition. Similarly, Uzoma & John (2014) demonstrated that hostage taking and kidnapping have occurred in Nigeria in various forms and for various reasons, but it is now one of Nigeria's economic endeavors because certain criminals exploit it as a huge industry and a constant source of money, particularly in the South-East. However, abduction is a serious problem that disrupts the country's peace and harmony. To summarize, this study found that kidnapping has spread to Nigeria's nooks and crannies as a result of poverty, unemployment, idleness, dissatisfaction, and loneliness among the youth, all of which motivate unhappy people to join together in order to conduct violence and crimes. In light of this, Afolabi (2013) discovers that unemployment is a huge concern in the majority of the world's countries. Nigeria, as a developing country, has a high rate of youth unemployment, which has become one of the country's most serious threats to national security.
Youths are a formidable force, and if their energies are properly channeled, there would be immense growth and development in that country; however, if their energies are dissipated on activities that are detrimental to national development, such a country would face a slew of problems, as stated by Uzoma & John (2014).
Similarly, parental neglect, a lack of proper counseling, poor skill acquisition, and drop-out syndrome among youths have led many youths to migrate from rural areas to cities, where they have been seduced with cash benefits and conscripted into various types of gangs or secret cults, where they have been trained as ethnic militia to unleash terror on innocent people in society.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The escalating level of insecurity in Nigeria is cause for concern since it affects everyone. Churches, mosques, stores, schools, households, and roadways are all at risk. The trauma of kidnapping has left abductees and their families scarred. Nigeria is losing foreign investment. According to Adesina in 2013, stated that Nigerians are paying the price for poor governance and leadership failures.
One of the topics that attracts the attention of both the population and the government of a particular society is the security of lives and property. Indeed, any breach of security, whether in the form of kidnapping, abduction, bomb explosion, or other means, that may result in bodily damage to a victim, destruction of property, or loss of human life, is typically viewed with disdain by the majority of peace-loving people.
One may argue that the mass media, which has a social role to provide the public with accurate information about specific societal events, should have paid greater attention to abduction fears and educated the public accordingly.
Increasing information and awareness about a particular subject, such as kidnapping, and illustrating crisis patterns are two of the most important strategies of mass media reporting. While the broadcast media (such as television channels and radio stations) may not have given such issues more air time due to the overwhelming number of other programs, it is assumed that the print media (such as dailies and magazines) did not adequately report on those concerns, given the periodic nature of newspaper reporting (Afolabi, 2013).
With the increasing presence of newspaper publications in society, their management power and role in various social situations, such as kidnapping, becomes increasingly important. National dailies must avoid broadcasting false information and maintain public impression by offering accurate, authentic, and one-of-a-kind news and stories. This is because everything they post as headlines or news has an influence on the wider public. To limit the amount of conflicting and confusing information, media publications and news writers must ensure that their news sources are reputable, reliable, authentic, and up to date. As a result, a comparative examination of the Punch and Guardian media' coverage of kidnapping in south-western Nigeria is required.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main focus of this study is to a comparative analysis of the punch and the guardian newspapers in the coverage of kidnapping in the south west Nigeria. Specifically it seeks:
- To examine the causes of kidnapping in South West, Nigeria
- To investigate the frequency with which kidnapping is covered in the selected Nigerian newspapers.
- To investigate the prominence given to the reporting of kidnapping in the selected Nigerian Newspapers.
- To examine the depth of coverage given to kidnapping in the selected Nigerian Newspapers.
- To examine the direction of reportage of kidnapping stories in Nigerian Newspapers, the Punch and the guardian
1.4 Research Questions
In this study, an attempt will be sufficiently made to answer the following questions.
- What are the causes of kidnapping in Nigeria?
- What is the frequency with which kidnapping is covered in the selected Nigerian Newspapers?
- What is the prominence given to the reporting of kidnapping in the selected Nigerian Newspapers?
- What is the depth of coverage given to kidnapping in the selected Nigerian Newspapers?
- What is the direction of reportage of kidnapping stories in Nigerian newspapers, The Punch and the Guardian?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The study will be useful to newspaper publishers, journalists, government officials, security personnel, and the general public. This study will undoubtedly aid professional journalists in terms of how to cover and report on kidnapping cases, civil unrest, and crises of all dimensions (s).
It will raise the government's awareness of security flaws and the necessity to develop credible and implementable measures to stem the onslaught of attacks on the ordinary man and strengthen national security.
This research will educate security personnel in Nigeria on the need of being exposed (through periodic training) to internationally tenable best practices and know-how of counter-abduction methods in order to improve their operational efficiency in countering violent crimes, terrorism, armed robbery, and kidnapping. Furthermore, the study will add to the current body of literature and act as a reference source for any future research in this sector.
1.6 Scope of the study
The scope of this study covers a comparative analysis of The Punch and The Guardian Newspapers in the coverage of kidnapping in the south west Nigeria. The study traced the quantitative and qualitative elements of news feature, editorials, letters and opinion articles, pictures and cartoons as reported in The Punch and the Guardian Newspapers. Also done by the study is the measurement of the content of the two daily newspapers and their extent of coverage, and equally presents the results in the tables and charts.
1.7 Definition of Terms
Abduction: Abduction is an act of taking somebody away illegally, especially using force.
Kidnapping: Kidnapping is a criminal offense consisting of the unlawful taking and carrying away of a person by force or fraud or the unlawful seizure and detention of a person against his will.
Newspapers: Newspapers according are “publications usually issued on a daily or weekly basis.
Newspaper Coverage: This is also referred to as press coverage. Press coverage is the art of gathering, collecting, processing, recording, and disseminating news and information through the process of mass communication which includes newspapers, magazines, radio and television”.
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