Reporting Boko Haram: Framing the Chibok Schoolgirls' Abduction in the Nigerian Press

Abstract

This study examines the news framing of the Chibok schoolgirls' abduction of 2014 in the Nigerian press. Eighty-one news stories were extracted from the websites of two Nigerian newspapers, Vanguard and Daily Trust, to analyse the news frames and sources used in reporting the abduction. The study shows that the Chibok abduction was framed as mass abduction, as terrorism and Islamic militancy, and as government inaction, and that the analysed newspapers used these frames in ways that suggested ethnic solidarity. Government sources were the dominant source group in the analysed newspapers and alternative sources such as family members of abducted schoolgirls or experts were excluded from the narrative. The study argues that the coverage of the attack in the Nigerian media had elements of ethnic bias that could potentially increase fear of the "other" and, thus, further polarise the country along ethnic and religious lines.