| Abstract: |
The conflict between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers is a disturbing issue in
contemporary Nigeria that constantly puts the unity of the country in jeopardy and
threatens its existence. This study ascertains prominence Nigerian newspapers
gave to stories on herder-farmer conflicts from 2011 – 2020 and reasons for giving
such prominence or otherwise. Mixed research methods using content analysis and
in-depth interview (IDI) was employed and stratified sampling technique used to
randomly select 800 copies of four purposively sampled newspapers from which
502 issues on herder-farmer conflicts in Daily Trust, Leadership, The Nation and
Punch published within the study period were identified and analysed. For the IDI, a
purposive sampling technique was used to select four editors in chief of the sampled
newspapers. The findings reveal that herder-farmer conflicts report was given
prominence as a Lead Story 40 times (7.9%) by the newspapers. Stories placed in the
Inside-Page were 39.4%, and Front-Page placement were 38.2%. The results further
show that content of the issue were mostly placed on the inside pages of the
newspapers. The study reveals some of the factors that influence newspaper editors
to give prominence or otherwise to stories on herder-farmer conflicts. These factors
include the 'unusualness' of such news, impact, timeliness, public interest and utility.
Other determinants were ownership, location and nature of the issues involved. The
study concludes that the newspapers gave prominence to stories on herder – farmer
conflicts within the study period. However, Daily Trust gave greater prominence
and attention to the conflicts than the other newspapers. The study recommends that
newspaper organisations should embrace balanced, accurate and objective
reporting on issues of national importance such as the herder-farmer conflicts. |
