Political Violence and Media Coverage in Nigeria: An Analysis of Nigerian Tribune and Punch Newspapers of 2011 General Elections in Osun State

Abstract

The study aims at determining the coverage of the violence by two newspapers (Nigerian Tribune and Punch) in the 2011 Osun State General Election by adopting content analysis as its research design. Theories adopted in carrying out this study are agenda setting, two step flow and multi-step flow. This study reveals that the newspapers in this study were not very effective in publishing the news concerning this brutal electoral violence within the period of four weeks under review. It also reveals that the Nigerian Tribune newspaper covered more stories on electoral violence than Punch newspaper and that the coverage of the two newspapers focused more on violence reportage than the effects of violence on the electorates. The coverage of the two newspapers on the major actors in the news also shows that ‘Politicians’ and Political parties’ played greater role in the news than others. The coverage of the two newspapers on victims of the violence shows that ‘Electorates’ and ‘Press’ were most affected victims than others. It therefore concludes that the two newspapers content analyzed were not proactive enough in their responsibility of providing timely information to the general public regarding the electoral violence, thereby leaving people in the dark.