Comparative Study of Hate Speech in the 2015 and 2019 General Elections in Three Selected Newspapers in Nigeria

Abstract

The recent trend in journalism malpractice in the country is the dissemination of hate speech and vulgar language. Within this context, the paper analyzed the manifestation of hate speech in the 2015 and 2019 general elections in the Daily Trust, The Nation, and The Guardian newspapers. The variables of frequency, location, direction, as well as a journalistic genre were used to examine the manifestation of hate speech in the 2015 and 2019 general elections by the selected newspapers. Stratified random sampling by days of the week was used to select the editions in the newspapers. The Functional Theory of Campaign Discourse and Critical Race Theory was used as the theoretical framework. Based on the findings, to table the manifestation of hate speech was more frequent in 2015 than in the 2019 general elections by the selected newspapers. The findings reveal that the manifestation of hate speech by the selected newspapers in the 2015 and 2019 general elections was significantly high in the inside pages than in the front and back pages. The study found that the manifestation of hate speech by the selected newspapers was in a negative direction in 2015, and in a neutral direction in 2019. The study discovered that the manifestation of hate speech was on political news by the selected newspapers in the 2015 and 2019 general elections in Nigeria. The paper concludes that the manifestation of hate speech in the 2015 and 2019 general elections in Nigeria was significantly high, and this constituted a major problem in the 2015 and 2019 general elections.