A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE FRAMING OF BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY IN THE BROADCAST MEDIA

Abstract

This study examines how the Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria was covered by the broadcast media in Kumasi, Ghana. It identifies patterns of frames that were adopted, angle of news and the scope of coverage. The study was carried out on two radio stations in Kumasi – Luv FM and Hello FM. The purpose was to analyze the Ghanaian media’s coverage of Boko Haram Insurgency and the frames that were used. The content analysis method was used. Seventy- four news stories on Boko Haram in 2014 were sampled and analysed. Findings indicate that social issues and victims related stories on Boko Haram were the subjects prevalent in the Ghanaian media and they were predominantly reported in a straight news format. There were also contrasting frames employed by the Ghanaian media in reporting the Boko Haram insurgency. It was however observed that the Ghanaian media reported less terrorism education stories. Therefore, the researchers encourage the need for such education. It was also observed that the Ghanaian broadcast media gave prominence to attacks of the militant group and the profile of the militant group and its leader. This is quite glorifying to the insurgency. Therefore further recommendations were made that the broadcast media reports the insurgency in the light of government policies to address it. The major limitation to this study was the size of the sample used for the research. Therefore generalization cannot be made.