Reporting Ethno Religious Conflict: The Jos Crises in the Nigerian Press (Published)
This paper discussed generally how media report ethno-religious conflicts knowing fully of the fact that conflict anywhere is one of the elements that attract media attention due to the dictum that says ‘it sells when it bleeds’. The paper specifically narrowed its focus on how the Nigerian Press report ethno-religion conflict or crises in Jos, Plateau state of North Central Nigeria. The famous city of Jos and its surroundings have experienced a series of crises that are doubtless linked to ethnoreligious conflicts. Several contents of the press were analysed, many studies were synthesized and a lot of opinions by community and religious leaders were consulted. Therefore, this paper found out significantly that the Nigerian press instead of contributing to facilitate peace resolution, reconciliation, and peacebuilding process was found pants down in inflaming the conflicts due to commercial drive and other political/religious motives of the owners. They did this without any consideration for the template of conflict-sensitive reporting.
Keywords: Ethno-religious, Jos., Nigerian press, conflict reporting, conflict-sensitive journalism
Historical Appraisal of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Contributions to Nigeria’s Journalism (Published)
Citation: Andrew Asan Ate and Joseph Omoh Ikerodah (2022) Historical Appraisal of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Contributions to Nigeria’s Journalism, International Journal of International Relations, Media and Mass Communication Studies, Vol.8, No.1, pp.1-18
Abstract: Founding fathers of the Nigerian press have made tremendous contributions to journalism practice in the country. This paper takes a look at the contributions of two towering founding fathers of the Nigerian press- Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, from historical research perspective, digging into archival materials from media historians and evidences from the duo major publications: Nigerian Tribune and The West African Pilot respectively. The work which is anchored on the gatekeeping concept of the media has put in proper perspective the contributions of two media icons of the mid-twentieth century Nigeria’s journalism for academic and professional scrutiny. Lessons from the professional ups and downs of the probed veteran journalists and their relationship with their audience will, in no small measure, justify the social relevance of the discourse. The study recommends among other things that journalism institutions in the country should identify and teach contributions of the founding fathers of the Nigerian press to enable young journalists have a solid foundation in their profession. The study also recommends among other things that modern day journalists in Nigeria should sustain the fire brand journalism practice of the duo which appears to have gone into extinction.
Keywords: Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Journalism, Newspapers, Nigerian press