MEDIA COVERAGE OF RELIGION AND SECURITY: A NIGERIAN CASE STUDY

Abstract

The paper examines the role played by the print media in the coverage of the religious crisis that broke out in November 2002, over the Miss World Beauty Pageant in Nigeria. It examined how information resource is being harnessed for development. It investigates the precise role that the Nigerian media, in this instance, the print media, played in either fuelling or reducing the intensity of religious conflicts in Nigeria. Nigeria and much of Africa remain one of the world’s hottest spots. Although, this is generally recognized, it remains unclear what role the media played in lessening or increasing the incidence and intensity of this conflict. The paper therefore, investigated the assumptions that the editorial postures of newspapers on religious conflicts will tend to coincide with the views that are dominant in the areas where these newspapers are located, as well as that Press coverage of religious crisis is an important factor in the prolongation and intensity of such conflicts. A detailed examination of the reportage of the crisis by two Nigerian Newspapers, New Nigerian located in the North and Nigerian Tribune located in the South, backed up by In-depth interviews with key editorial personnel was employed.