Be Alert and Defend Yourselves: News Framing of Danjuma’s Comments on Herdsmen Attacks in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigerian society has been plagued recently by terrorism and insecurity including herdsmen and farmers’ clash which resulted in ruthless killing of citizens. General T.Y. Danjuma, former Chief of Staff of Nigeria, while speaking at the maiden convocation and 10th anniversary celebration of Taraba State University on 24th March 2018, alleged that the Armed Forces were conspiring with herdsmen to kill innocent Nigerians. He called on Nigerians to defend themselves, since the government and the military failed in their security function. The military on the hand was of the view that Danjuma’s call for Nigerians to defend themselves against herdsmen attacks is an invitation to anarchy. This study used the Framing Theory to analyze how two Nigerian dallies (Punch and Vanguard newspapers) framed the news to ascertain if the reports favour Danjuma or the military. The study suggests that the news media was very positive about Danjuma’s position; the issue of self defense was salient while the call for anarchy was de-emphasized.

Keywords

• news
• newspaper
• framing
• ty danjuma
• buhari
• herdsmen
• insecurity
• attack
• self defense
• nigeria