NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS’ COVERAGE OF NIGERIAN MIGRANTS IN LIBYA
Abstract
Given the role of the press in the coverage of migration across countries, this work examines the newspaper representation of the Nigerian Migrants to Libya, in what direction, and how they frame the condition of the Nigerian migrants. The study is significant because the mass media not only set agenda and frame debates; they provide the information which citizens use to make sense of the world. The study adopts the Quantitative Content Analysis of selected Nigerian newspapers and anchored on the framing theory of Mass communication, the study established that within the period of January, 2018 to December, 2018, when the news on migration was popular in Nigeria, the Nigerian newspapers had a very minimal level of representation of the stories on Nigerian migrants in Libya. However, majority of the stories were placed on the inside pages while very few of them were placed on the front pages of the newspapers and majority of the few stories reported on the migrants were average on their in-depth. The study also found that half of the migrants’ conditions were portrayed with hopeful narratives while some others had hopeless narratives. Half of the stories on the migrants were captured as slaves while half of the stories were also captured as recognized people and majority of the migrant stories had the decision of repatriation/return while a few others had the decision of rescue/ regard for the migrants. The study concludes that that the coverage of Nigerian migrants in the Nigerian newspapers was scarce even when the stories was trending in several other media of communication. It was recommended that the Nigerian newspapers should be encouraged to always give adequate coverage to issues of national interest such as migration, improvement in the volume and depth of analytical articles- features, news analyses/commentaries, columns and editorials- published on the Nigerian Libya migrations and be more intentional in giving prominence to the migrant stories. This will help to ensure that migrant issues gain sustained salience in media agenda and in public discourse.
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