A critical discourse analysis of selected print media reports on insurgency in Nigerian newspapers

Abstract

Insufficient studies have considered critical studies to explore diverse discourse patterns that arise from print media reportage of insurgent actions in the country. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine an investigation of the insurgency coverage in Nigerian media through the Critical Discourse Approach with a view to identifying the various ideological roles present in the coverage. van Dijk's (2006) Socio-cognitive approach to Critical Discourse Analysis was adopted as the theoretical framework for this study. The study used a qualitative method to analyse twenty (29) reports purposively. Data were selected from three National newspapers, namely: The Punch, This Day and The Guardian. Findings revealed the presence of six discursive strategies which are labeling, number game, evidentiality, lexicalisation, metaphor and categorisation. These strategies are utilised in news reports to construct polarity as well as social inequality and bias. This paper also revealed that the presupposition of the ideologies found is to increase the information deliveries and acceptance in the written reports of the insurgent actions in Nigeria. Most importantly, the ideologies are used to present two major groups, namely the in-group and the out-group. While the in-group refers to Nigerian citizens who were portrayed as victims and innocent, the out-groups refers to the various insurgency groups who bring about tears, pains and bloodletting among the Nigerian people. The study concludes that newspapers are often bias especially in their reportage of insurgent operations as revealed in the data analysis.