Are you Satisfied with the Current State of Journalism Practice in Platea State, if

Using the Nvivo software the researcher searched for the following keywords: ethnicity, influence, divisions, ethnic frames, indigenous ethnic groups, Hausa/Fulani, media war, taking side, conflict, interest blocs ethnic agenda, headline news. The search produced the following outcomes on both the word cloud and tree: ethnicity, Plateau group, Fulani, church influence suicide bomber, and Hausa. At a glance, one immediately gets the sense of the variables that influenced journalism practice in Plateau State. The researcher found it rather odd that all the interview respondents returned the same verdict on the effect ethnicity had on journalism practice. They tended to contradict their earlier assertions that ethnicity did not influence their reports.

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To reinforce their claims, the interview participants gave some instances. For example, IR6, declared that:

Ethnicity has heavily influenced journalism practice, because it became more of a media war during the Plateau State conflict. Journalists were beginning to think that the only way they could contribute was by siding with their ethnic communities […] that have cultural affinity with them.

Similarly, IR2 explained thus:

Ethnicity influenced our practice quite a lot. It has at the macro and micro levels. At the macro level because we are talking about the Hausa/Fulani ethnic community (settlers) and the minority ethnic groups (the indigenes). The last general elections brought in a more dangerous dimension, which is the micro ethnic perspective in the media [...]. There were quite a lot of divisions in the coverage of the last general elections; quite a lot of ethnic frames manifested in media reportage of the elections, especially as it concerned the candidates themselves.

If one was in doubt and needed further confirmation of how some newspapers were established primarily to champion ethnic interests, IR3 provided it when he asserted that:

[…] when the then governor of Plateau State, Joseph Dechi Gomwalk set up The Nigeria Standard, it was, essentially to project the interest of the Plateau ethnic communities and other minority ethnic groups in the Middle Belt against the Hausa/Fulani majority group domination of The New Nigerian newspaper, which was a joint venture of the northern governors of which Plateau State was one.

Although the various ethnic communities that both The Nigeria Standard and the Daily Trust

newspapers represented could justify the historical circumstances that led to their establishments, in the first place, it is doubtful if they could in the same vein defend the abuses and legacy of ethnic bigotry of which the present generation of citizens must grapple with. This ethnic influence, therefore, goes against social capital, which seeks to promote, among other things, the existence of a certain body of values shared among members of a community that engender cooperation among them (Kukah, 1999). Furthermore, the pattern of the newspaper coverage highlighted the newspapers’ tendencies to focus attention on ethnic conflict than on some of the wholesome values that could promote nation-building, such as economic partnership, interethnic marriage, cultural and sports festivals (Aapengnuo, 2010; Shah & Thornton, 2003). Focusing almost exclusively on the ethnic dimension of the conflict, as the respondents affirmed to the exclusion of other variables, such as dialogue and peace it would only affirm the danger of a single narrative.

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The above statements described how ethnicity had come characterise journalism practice in Plateau State. The types of frames constructed by the newspapers were coloured in ethnic frames, as this respondent (IR9) explained:

[…] the farmers/Fulani herdsmen issue involved two distinct ethnic groups (Berom and Fulani). A Berom reporter, for example, would not report that some Berom are cattle rustlers. A Fulani reporter would not also report that some Fulani are attacking communities. We have had situations when some of our colleagues wrote reports without verifying from the security agencies and by so doing downplayed one side in the conflict and amplified the other. When it involved an ethnic group in the conflict that the newspaper had interest in and the ethnic group was perceived to be the aggressor, you get headline news, such as, ‘unknown gunmen attack a community.’ […] where the newspaper has no interest, it may read, ‘Fulani attack kill scores of people.’

This above quote underscores the ethnic schism that the conflict has created, and unfortunately, this has become one of the issues with journalism practice in Plateau State today. The art of downplaying an aspect of one’s report in a conflict and amplifying the other clearly squares up with Entman’s (1993) notion of news framing, which is a situation when one selects some aspects of a perceived reality and highlights to the exclusion of the other piece of information. What are important to look out for in media frames is the foregrounding, meaning, the values and issues that are organised in the text. Although the finger of blame was often pointed at the media in conflict situations, unfortunately, most members of the public are often oblivious of the undercurrents and the undue pressure which some ethnic power blocs exact on journalists. This was the predicament of IR10 and he expressed his frustration thus:

[…] I was under enormous pressure from […] interest groups to support their agenda and their agenda was for me to help promote what their ethnic groups wanted and not what was good for the society. The pressure was on me to help advance their ethnic agenda. There was the agenda that feels that the indigenous ethnic groups cannot go wrong, regardless, of the number of Hausa/Fulani killed. Much as they may not come out to say I should kill the story, they would, nonetheless expect that I water down the report. Then, there was the Hausa/Fulani pressure group that believed since the newspaper I work for is owned by a group of Hausa/Fulani, I should protect their agenda, not minding that I am not Hausa/Fulani.

This scenario is, by no means, an isolated case. However, the claims of respondent 10, as expressed above, shows how ethnic interest communities sometimes try to use the media to advance their agenda during conflict, but what the respondent did not highlight was that

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sometimes, too, journalists were not only willing, but have taken up such initiatives even when unsolicited. This was the opinion of IR4 when he expressed as follows:

At the level of theory journalists are supposed to be guided by the ethics of their profession, however, looking at it from the point of view of practice that is not the case. I for one would not hesitate to help highlight the plight of my ethnic group if they are confronted with some challenges that requires me to.

On the surface, the statement of IR4 did not to contravene any journalistic ethics but reading between the lines one could see that there was more to the statement than meets the eye. There was nothing wrong in highlighting the plight of one’s ethnic community so long as it was within the established norms of journalism. But the underlying reason of the respondent was that he saw it as a duty to use his privileged position as a journalist to promote the interests of his ethnic community in a situation of conflict, even if those interests conflicted with the ethics of journalism. Based on the foregoing, the unrelenting reports in both The Nigeria Standard and the Daily Trust, speak to a prevailing journalistic bias toward conflict in coverage of ethnic social relations (Shah & Thornton, 2003). It is therefore pertinent for reporters and editors of newspapers to take into cognisance the irreparable harm they do to society by the kind of frames they manufacture. There is need for them to exercise a high degree of caution in the kind of frames reporters construct. Because as Best (2007) posited, the newspaper is a pendulum that can swing in the direction of peace if it selects to, but it can also reverse in the direction that promotes conflict if it chooses to. This is even much more so because of the nature of the conflict environment (Plateau State), which has had relative long history of ethnic-based conflict (Ishaku, 2012; Musa & Ferguson, 2013; Plateau Indigenous Development Association Network, 2010). This point was aptly captured by Kukah (1999) when he observed that probably next to God is the newspaper that legitimises what Nigerians consider to be the truth, in any given situation. Kukah opined that Nigerians, irrespective of whether illiterate or educated, would say a newspaper or radio or television said it. With this climate of gullibility, reporters need to be cautious in their news production aware of the ethnically charged conflict environment, such as Plateau State, that what comes out of the newspaper or media is taken as the ‘Gospel truth.’

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6.5 RQ 3: What are the Practice-based Implications of the Coverage of the