Nigerian Media, Boko-Terrorism, and Politics of the 2015 Nigerian General Elections

The Nigerian Journal of Communication

Abstract

Terrorism is not new to Nigeria but the dimension of terrorism unleashed on the Nigerian people by Boko Haram and the extent of damage to the nation's collective psyche remain “strange” in the nation's history. This paper evaluates the role of the Nigerian media in the face of Boko Haram terror activities. The highpoint of the paper is the evaluation of  the role Boko-terrorism played in the 
politics of the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria. It is the position of the paper that the Nigerian media did not fare very well in their handling of the Boko Haram terror activities because of lack of editorial independence and ethnocentricity. The paper also argues that Boko-terrorism played a vital role in the Peoples Democratic Party's loss of the 2015 elections in Nigeria. Using personal observation, evaluation of news reports, and literature analysis as the basis of our argument, these authors submit that the Nigerian media have operated more as active players in political crises that followed the Boko Haram carnage than as impartial judges of such crises. The paper therefore calls for people ownership of media firms, expert reporting and cautions against ethnocentric journalism. 

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