CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
INTRODUCTION
Terrorism hit Nigeria with shock as the media brought to the knowledge of Nigerians the BokoHaram incessant attack in the North East of Nigeria. Nigerians are glued to media report as no one can actually tell what is happening where, when, and how it will happen. Bomb blasts have become a regular occurrence. And seeing that there is much dependence on the media for information, it then appears that the manner in which information are reported will go a long way to effect changes in areas that require such especially in curbing the recent menace of terrorist attacks by the Boko-haram terrorist group in Nigeria. The Nigerian media being imbued with that consciousness in its tradition of being outspoken carry’s such responsibility of making change in the society. In Ayo Olukoyuns article (2004),he quotes Oseni(2009) that the media is charged with the role of holding governments accountable and guarding against the abuse of power, hence the need to raise countervailing structures of surveillance to monitor government’s activities and stem an inherent disposition towards excess. Terrorism disorganized America’s sense of invulnerability and unparalleled might on a sunny September morning. Almost overnight, the American landscape went from one of prosperity, safety, and power to one of threat, fear, and uncertainty. This was the same case with Nigeria, when to the disheartening of all bombs were going up killing innocent people. (Channels T.V, 2013)The worst happened when the Chibok girls were abducted, and till date their recovery has become a herculean task. The media swung into action immediately giving a run-down of events. This greatly seemed to check the rate at which the attacks occurred as the media disseminated information on the mode of operation of these terrorists. Threat and fear are not simply a psychological phenomena they are politically consequential for how elites and the mass media communicate with the public and, ultimately, for opinion formation. In times of crisis, citizens turn to political leaders and the media to make sense of new and frightening events. The contours of the information environment in turn influence how people prefer the government to react to threat or terror. Shana Kushner Gadarian (2010) posits that several scholars have variously described the mass media as gadgets used to effect mass communication. For example, Defleur and Dennis(1981) define the mass media as “devices for moving messages across distance or time to accomplish mass communication.” The issue of application of the term “mass media” to technical devices is crucial to the understanding of the concept
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.