HUSSAINI ADAMU FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC KAZAURE,

JIGAWA STATE NIGERIA

PRODUCTION OF BIO-BASED ADHESIVE GUM FROM THE STEM OF

BY

ISAAC CHIOMA GIFT ND/PT/20/022

JULY, 2023
 ABSTARCT
This study set out to identify the pattern of frames adopted by Nigerian newspapers in the coverage of
Boko Haram insurgency. Four newspapers (The Guardian, Daily Sun, the Vanguard and ThisDay)
were analysed to find out the framing patterns in the reportage of Boko Haram insurgency. The
research method was content analysis. Inter-coder reliability was tested using Holsti’s formula which
showed an overall 0.86 percent agreement. Findings indicate that Nigerian newspapers reported the
Boko Haram insurgency in a predominantly policy response frame. This pattern was conspicuously
manifest in The Guardian, ThisDay and Vanguard newspapers. However, this contrasted with the
pattern identified in the Daily Sun newspaper, which emphasized ethnic and religious frames. Findings
also showed that there was 60% prevalence out of the 10 frame categories used in the study. From
these findings, it is clear that Nigerian newspapers reported government interventions in positive
terms. Such positive framings are germane to minimizing insurgencies like that of Boko Haram, while
on the other hand, coverage which emphasize ethnic and religious frames are negative and are
detrimental to peace initiatives in a secular and multi-cultural State like Nigeria. We therefore
recommend the optimization of positive frames to promote the peace media initiative which forms the
critical plank of positive media interventions.
Keywords: Frames, Newspapers, News coverage, Boko Haram, Framing Categories.

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Background of the Study
One manner in which news media shape perceptions of key events is through the act of ‘Framing’.
Therefore, news content analysis is essential to studying the pattern of media frame of news. In news
media, news frames serve as journalistic tools through which journalists recount a story in a limited
amount of space and place an event within its broader context (Hallahan 1999:207). He used a framing
metaphor to interpret news frame as a “window or portrait frame drawn around information that
delimits the subject matter and, thus, focuses attention on key elements within”.

Lippmann (quoted in Papacharissi and Oliveira, 2008: 52) notes that news is responsible for providing
the “pseudo-environment” upon which people rely to experience and understand events they cannot
observe directly and that news frames are important in how these events are reported since they reflect
a process of recurring selection and emphasis in communicating perceived reality. They concluded
that, frames in media are key components in the study of selection and interpretation of news. As
Bullock (2001:20) notes, framing affects how a story is told and influences public perception. One
reason for this, according to Auerbach & Bloch-Elkon (2005:13) is that the public’s lack of awareness,
along with their reliance on media for information and decisionmaking, make them more likely to be
influenced by framing. They observed that:

When the media place stories in specific frames, they lend a different meaning to the news. The media
increase or decrease the salience of issues, which allows the public to remember and make judgments
on such issues. Framing assumes that subtle changes in the wording of the description of a situation
might affect how audience members think about the situation

Research shows that news dealing with unrest and crises, like the Boko Haram insurgence in Nigeria,
influence public perceptions and concerns. When such events cause destruction in the society, it
severely affects members in that community. Generally, these events allow researchers to assess the
degree to which media select news and shape its content (Brunken, 2006: 2).

Study Focus/ Frames of Analysis The type of frames examined in a media content analysis, is often
times influenced by the event under investigation. This study is on a crises situation in Nigeria and
examines the following frames: response frame, political frame, economic frame, religious frame, and
ethnic frame. Others include: Powerlessness frame, attribution of responsibility frame, labeling frame,
human interest frame and conspiracy frame. These measures were developed by Semetko and
Valkenburg (2000); Iyengar (1991) and De Vreese (2005), for analyzing frames in media coverage
issues.

The response frame focuses on the approach adopted by the government in a crisis or security threat
situation like the Boko Haram activities. This style of coverage puts government’s response on the
spotlight of public scrutiny and provides an understanding of how the people would place their trust on

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the government. The political frame emphasizes escalation of political tension. It points at conflict of
interest for power and scarce means among geo-political regions, party and groups. In Ethnic framing,
the crisis situation is portrayed as being targeted at a particular tribe. The economic frame relates to the
economic consequences of events on an individual, group, institution, region, or country (Semetko &
Valkenburg, 2000:96). An analysis of the economic consequence of the group’s activities could be
summed up by Poopola’s (2012) observation: “The perplexing aspect of the Boko Haram’s activities is
that it could worsen the nation’s economy”. The upsetting impact of the Boko Haram crises on the
political, religious, ethnic, social and economic life of Nigeria, and the limited number of studies on
the subject matter, provides sufficient justification for this research. At this juncture, it is pertinent to
take a cursory look at the Boko Haram sect as part of the contextualization of this study.

Boko Haram
Boko Haram is an Islamic group in Northern Nigeria that opposes western education and uses
violence, killings and bombings to implement their goals. It is otherwise known as Jama’atu Ahlis
Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, that is, "people committed to the cause of Islam” (Ekwueme and
Akpan, 2012). According to Okoro and Okechukwu (2012) the sect which opposes western culture,
modern science and democracy was formed in 2002 by late Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf in Maiduguri,
Borno State. Boko Haram, which literally means western education (Boko) is sinful (Haram), is
believed, by many, to be a break-away republic from the deadly Maitatsine Group of 1980s. In fact,
the history of Boko Haram is as elusive as the group itself and studies on the group remain
inconclusive about its origin. According to some sources, the group has evolved from various efforts
by extremists’ elements dating back to the 1940s through the end of the 1990s that sought to radicalize
various segments of northern Nigeria. To some other sources, Boko Haram started in 1995 as ‘Sahaba’
and was initially led by Lawan Abubukar, who later left for the University of Medina in Saudi Arabia
for further studies. Late Yusuf Mohammed who was killed in a controversial circumstance in 2009 by
men of the Nigeria Police Force was said to have taken over the leadership after the departure of
Abubakar and indoctrinated the sect with his own teachings which he claimed were based on purity
and Sharia law.

Shortly after his take-over, he commenced what many described as intensive membership mobilization
after his first release from police custody in November 2008 in Maiduguri. This intensive mobilization
recorded huge followership of over 500,000 members. Before his demise, he usually taxed them one
naira, which approximated to N500, 000 daily. It is believed that the almajiri system in the north made
this mobilization easy (Madike, June 2011).

As a result of the violent activities of the group, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua ordered the
deployment of the military to contain the group which government described as dissidents. After initial
resistance, Boko Haram fell to the superior fire power of the military, and Yusuf, its leader, was

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arrested and handed over to the police. Hours later, police executed him alongside his alleged sponsor,
Alhaji Buji Foi, who was the Commissioner for Religious Affairs during the first term of former
Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State. Despite the death of the once dreaded Yusuf, the group has
continued its attacks. At the moment, the insurgence has assumed a very dangerous dimension with
renewed attacks in many places in the northern part of Nigeria. From the time the group was formed to
the present day, it has carried out lots of attacks most of which were bomb blasts that have left lots of
people dead and properties worth billions of naira destroyed (Okoro and Okechukwu, 2012). These
massive destructions have engendered an atmosphere of concern and insecurity.

The Problem
Although there exists a substantial body of research and information analyzing press coverage of the
Boko Haram violent activities in northern Nigeria, available literature shows that the frames employed
by the media in such coverage are lacking. Also lacking, is information on the prevalent and dominant
frames as used by the media. Studies show that most of the existing framing researches were used
outside of Nigerian culture and within the subject matter of natural disaster-induced crises such as
floods, fire outbreak, Hurricane, etc. (Raum, 2005). A scan of empirical studies on news coverage of
the Boko Haram in Nigerian newspapers revealed that the categories constantly examined were:
prominence, depth of coverage, direction and frequency. This limited scope does not provide for the
examination of other categories which will help in revealing the role of the media in the selection,
interpretation and communication of perceived reality--a role which Goffman (1974) termed
“Framing”. As a result, this study set out to: ascertain the patterns of news framing of the Boko Haram
activities in Nigerian newspapers; identify the dominant frame used in the coverage of the Boko
Haram activities in the year 2012 and to determine which of the frames were prevalent in the news
coverage of Boko Haram activities.

Research Questions The following research questions were formulated to guided the study: (i) What
were the patterns of news frames of the Boko Haram activities in Nigerian newspapers? (ii) What was
the dominant frame used in the coverage of the Boko Haram insurgency? (iii) Which of the frames
were prevalent in the news coverage of Boko Haram activities in 2012?

Literature Review
Framing is considered a pivotal practice in journalism. Zillman et. Al (2004:1) believe that media
frames give meaning to events and issues and that, when used appropriately, they instigate readers’
attention and interest. By giving emphasis to certain aspects and downplaying others, they can apture
and retain the readers’ attention to the news (Tankard, 2001; Zillman et al, (2004).

The above views on the implications of framing the news align with those of Shah et. al (2002:1-46),
who carried out a study in America, titled, News framing and Cueing of Issue Regimes: Explaining
Clinton’s Public Approval in spite of Scandal and Impending Impeachment Proceedings Against the
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President. The researchers were interested in finding out whether Clinton’s regime of high economic
markers, internal security and overall job performance, which several political scientists have termed
“Media independent variables”, was responsible for the increased approval rating or if positive
American media frames accounted for the rating. In testing these hypotheses the researchers utilized
the ideo-dynamic model which attempts to predict public approval based upon media coverage as
postulated by Fan and Cook (2002). For their study, the researchers drew three types of data spanning
a period of six years from January 1993 to March 1999. Data source included a longitudinal content
analysis of major news media, a time trend of opinion polls on presidential job approval, and monthly
estimates of real disposable personal income. All three data sources were used to test the theory that
mass opinion recognizes that citizens’ opinions are substantially influenced by certain frames
contained in news coverage.

In the final analysis, their finding showed that simple valence of media effect did not adequately
explain President Clinton’s public support during the Monica Lewinsky scandal but rather, a sharp
modification of extent models of media effects to account for the framing of the scandal. With this
done, it was concluded that mass approval of Clinton was sustained and encourage by news content
presenting or framing the scandal in terms of attacks by conservative and critical responses by liberals.
In support of their hypothesis that strong economy and favourable presidential performance may not be
the reason for the high approval of Clinton’s presidency in the face of the sex scandal, their finding
showed that the citizens’ support increased when they encountered coverage that framed the sex
scandal in terms of the actions and accusations of conservative elites. Their finding is consistent with
the theory that news coverage can focus public attention on particular topics and in so doing, alter the
mix of cognition that are most readily accessible when forming political judgments (Papacharissi and
Oliveira, 2008).

Studies in media framing 2011; Eti, 2012; Shah, et al, 2002; Papacharissi and Oliveira, 2008 and
Odoemelam, Okeibunor & Adibe. 2012) continue to support the opinion that the media draw the
public attention to certain topics and decide what people think about. These studies argue that the way
in which news is presented, and the attributes used in the presentation, is a deliberate choice made by
journalists (Eti, 2012). Thus, the way media organs and media gatekeepers organize and present the
events and the issues they cover, and the way audiences interpret what they are provided with, are
products of media frame. Therefore, content analysis as a research method, has over time, represented
an approach adopted by scholars to examine these patterns of media presentation of news.

Also, comparative methods have been used to examine how the News frames terrorism in newspapers
across different continents. In their study, News Frames Terrorism: A comparative Analysis of Frames
Employed in Terrorism Coverage in U.S. and U.K. Newspapers, Papacharissi and Oliveira (2008)
under took a comparative analysis of leading newspapers in the United States of America and the

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United Kingdom, by combining qualitative and quantitative methods to identify frames in reports on
terrorism events. They focused on the following newspapers: Washington Post, the New York Times,
the London Financial Times and the Guardian, over a year period. The units analysed included news
reports, features, news analyses and editorials. Their study revealed that, the U.S papers engaged in
more episodic coverage, while the U.K. papers were more interested in thematic coverage of terrorism
and terror-related events. They further observed that, the U.S papers were consumed with reporting
news related with the military approach, whereas, the U.K papers were oriented toward diplomatic
evaluations of terrorist events. Evidently, this study provides an intriguing insight for this present study
but would have been more valuable if it had investigated the reason for the discrepancy in coverage
orientation by the U.S and U.K newspapers. The study significantly differs from this present study
because the researchers examined frames that contrast with the frames in the present study.

To investigate how newspapers interpret crises issues in Nigeria through their reportage, researchers
have also adopted the qualitative approach to content analysis. In the year 2012, Eti, adopted the
qualitative content analysis method to examine how Nigerian newspapers report crises issues like
kidnapping and hostagetaking. The papers content analysed, included, the Champion, the Punch and
New Nigerian Newspapers. She focused on newspaper headlines and came to the conclusion that,
reporting of crises situations like bombing and kidnapping in the Nigerian press is ‘episodic’ and that
the coverage featured such conflict behaviours as the “bombing of drilling platforms and oil
pipelines”, “killing and maiming of oil workers and state security operatives”, and “kidnapping and
hostage taking”. She also drew the conclusion that, framing of these conflict behaviours were
influenced by ethno-political factors, foreign policy implications, and the height of drama of the
situation. This study and the present study, share certain similarities. For instance, they both examined
an issue of national concern, which is violence by a segment of the Nigerian polity. They former
examined the pattern adopted by the Nigerian press in the coverage of the crises of hostage-taking and
bombing of oil pipelines by the Niger Delta Militants, while this present study, examined the use of
frames in the coverage of the Boko Haram insurgence. Also, both studies attempted a comparative
analysis of the coverage by the newspapers. However, they differ in several instances. This study
triangulated the research method by collecting data with different approaches which included the
quantitative and qualitative methods. This study examined the patterns in the coverage with specific
benchmarks called ‘framing categories’. This study also examined three units in the newspapers which
include: headlines, body of the story and the news photographs. Frames in newspaper coverage, have
also been used to study natural disasters. For instance, Brunken (2006) examined the Hurricane crisis
and adopted the following categories: Conflict, Human Interest, Economic and Moral frames as
content categories to newspaper coverage of the crisis.

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Theoretical Underpinning
This study is anchored on the framing theory propounded by Erving Goffman in 1974 in his book,
Framing analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Framing is used here to explain how the
mass media promote a particular definition of an issue through selection, emphasis, exclusion, and
elaboration (Scheufele & Iyengar, 2010).

, 2010). Previous research has provided sufficient evidence that mass media have the power to select
and “pack” the events, and, thus, to influence the way audience/readers perceive the surrounding
reality. Framing is one of the media effects theories, largely used to analyze how the mass-media
filters information and, thus, influences the public’s reactions to a whole range of external stimuli (De
Vreese, 2007). Azlan (2012) has analyzed how public attitudes are shaped as a result of media framing
of a subject. He notes further that there are two factors that facilitate the adoption of frames “the
accessibility of an issue, and the correlation between a subject and the audience’s pre-existing
opinions.” In other words, framing effects are not independent (Azlan, 2012, p 320). On the other
hand, Shuck and de Vreese (2006) have established that attitudes and knowledge that exist before
media exposure play an important role in determining the framing effects. Also, Auerbach & Bloch-
Elkon (2005) have found correlations between low levels of political information, on one hand, and the
predisposition to adopt frames, on the other hand. Interestingly, Adair (2007) and Shah et. al. (2004)
have shown that, in general, the public is more affected by negative frames than by the positive ones.

Method
The research design for this study is the content analysis method, which, as Reinard (2001: 14) notes,
analyses the manifest content of communication to discover the extant patterns. The Nwanna’s
(1981:44) sample size formula was used to draw a sample for the study. 10% expected frequency value
was used for the calculation of the sample size which was above a thousand. The formula is:

Where:
n= sample
size
NV=Population
value P=Expected
frequency value = (10%)

n=146 (Actual sample size).

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However, to make room for uniform distribution, the sample size of 146 was reduced to 144. This
meant that 2 days were removed from the total sample size. The need for a uniform distribution of the
sample, justifies this reduction by 2, which the researcher notes is not significant and does not affect
the representativeness of the sample size. It is usually not the largeness of the sample size that makes a
sample valid but its representativeness (Chilisa, 2012; Asika, 2010). Wimmer and Dominick
(2011:178) note that, a sample is representative of the population from which it is taken if the
characteristics of the sample mimic those of the population. This brought the total sample size to
n=144. To ensure that each of the selected papers for the study had equal numbers of representation,
the quota sampling technique was used to assign 36 issues or editions to each of the selected papers.
Also, to ensure that each element had a probable chance of being selected, the simple random
technique was used (Okoro, 2000; Ohaja, 2003). To allow for equal participation and selection of the
entire element in the study, the researchers divided the editions into 12 months (January2012-
December 2012). The simple random technique was used in selecting the particular days of reportage
out of the sample of 144 (n=144). The study used the code sheet for gathering information on the
frames in the news coverage of the Boko Haram activities, and also the code guide as an instructional
or training/resource material for the coders. Inter-coder reliability was assessed using Holsti’s inter-
coder reliability formula. The Holsti’s intercoder reliability test was calculated thus:

The unit of analysis in this study was the News, which is that genre of media content that gives an
accurate and objective account of an occurrence. For the content category, Wimmer and Dominick
(2011:165) note that the precise constitutions of these categories vary with the topic of inquiry. The
variables analysed in this study, were categorized into ten types of frames such as: response frame,
ethnic frame, political frame, economic frame and religious frame. Others include: Powerlessness
frame, attribution of responsibility frame, labeling frame and conspiracy frame. These measures were
developed by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000); Iyengar (1991) and De Vreese (2005), for analyzing
frames in media coverage of various phenomenon.

8
As this data show, there were a total of 57 frames used by the Guardian newspaper in the coverage of
the Boko Haram activities in the year 2012. Out of this, 17, representing (29.8%) was devoted to the
Respond frame. in its reportage of Boko, Haram. This was followed by 13 (22.8 %). Powerlessness
frame was 0 (0%). Political frame was 5 (8.7%), while Human interest and Conspiracy frames were 2
(3.5%) each. Attribution of responsibility frame was 5 (8.7%) and Ethnicity was 3 (5.2%). This
showed that the Guardian newspaper used more of Response frame than any other frame. Meanwhile,
Human interest and Conspiracy frames were the least used 2 (3.5%) each, while the powerlessness
frame was not used at all.

Fig 2 above shows that the Vanguard newspaper used a total of 42 frames in the reporting of the Boko
haram insurgence. 16, representing 38.0%, was used for the Response frame. Religion and political
frames appeared 5 times, representing 12% each. Also, human interest and economic frames appeared
3 times representing 7.1% each. Powerlessness frame was 4, representing 9.5%. The least were
conspiracy and labeling frames which had 1, representing 2.3% each. The dominant frame used by the
Vanguard in the reportage of Boko Haram was therefore, the Response frame which is 38%.

In the ThisDay newspaper, as fig 3 above show, frames appeared 52 times. Out of that, the response
frame appeared 18 times (34.6%) while the Human interest frame was 5 (9.6%); and the religious
frame was 2 (3.8%). The economic frame was 6 (11.5%), while the Political and Powerlessness frames
had 5 (9.6%) each. The Labeling frame was 9 (17.3%). Conspiracy and Attribution of responsibility

9
frames had the least with 1 (1.9%) each. This showed that ThisDay newspaper gave more emphasis to
the response frame 18 34.6%, which was followed by the labeling frame 17.3%.

Fig 4 above shows that in the Daily Sun newspaper, frames appeared 65 times. The response frame
was 6 (9.2%), the human interest frame was 10 (15.3%) while the Religious frame was 18 (27.6%).
Political frame appeared 2 times (3.0%). The economic and Conspiracy frames were absent 0 (0%).
The Labeling frame had 5 (7.6%) appearances, with such labels as terrorist, Islamic sect, religious
extremists identified in the content of the news reports. Powerlessness frame was 4 (6.1%) while
Attribution of responsibility was 1 (1.5%). This showed that the Daily Sun gave more emphasizes to
the Ethnic frame in its reportage of the Boko Haram activities in 2012.

Research Question Two: What was the dominant frame used in the coverage of the Boko Haram?

Fig 5 above shows that in the four newspapers under study, frames appeared 216 times in the coverage
of the Boko activities in the year 2012. Out of this, the Response frame had the highest frequency 57,
representing (26.3%). It follows therefore that, the Response frame was the dominant frame used in the
coverage of the Boko Haram activities in the year 2012 by the main stream newspapers in Nigeria.
This purports that, in its reportage of the Boko Haram incident, the Nigerian newspapers presented
issues in the light of government response to the Boko Haram’s threats and violence. This was
followed by the Religious frame which had a frequency of 29 (13.4%). The least was the conspiracy
frame, which had a frequency of 4 (1.8%).

Research Question Three: Which of the frames were prevalent in the news coverage of Boko Haram in
2012. Fig 6: Showing prevalence of frames in newspaper coverage of Boko Haram

As the above table show, out of the 10 (100%) categories used for determining the frames in the
coverage of the Boko Haram crises by the four Nigerian newspapers, 6, representing (60%), were
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prevalent (i.e, common) in the coverage by the newspapers. These frames included the following:
Response frame, Human interest frame, Political frame, Powerlessness frame, Attribution of
responsibility frame and labeling frame. Those that were not prevalent include: the Economic frame,
the Conspiracy frame and the Ethnicity frame. They were not prevalent because not all the newspapers
used them in their coverage. For instance, the Guardian newspaper did not use the Powerlessness
frame. In the same vein, the ThisDay newspaper did not use the Ethnic frame, while the Daily Sun
newspaper, did not use the Economic and Conspiracy frame.

Summary of Findings
The study found contrasting patterns in frames used by the newspapers in the coverage of Boko Haram
in the year 2012. The Guardian, the Vanguard and the ThisDay newspapers emphasized the
responsibility frame 24% as against 17.1% emphasized by the Daily Sun newspaper. Also, among the
10 frames used as yardstick for measuring newspaper coverage of the Boko Haram insurgence, the
dominant frame identified in the coverage, was the Response frame, 26.3%. Findings also showed that
there was 60% prevalence in the use of the frames by the newspapers in the coverage. On the other
hand, finding showed that there was 40% non-prevalence in the use of the frames.

Conclusion
The study has provided evidence into the differences in newspaper reporting and framing of the Boko
Haram crises as well as showing both the dominant and prevalent frames used by the newspapers. A
significant contribution of this study, not found in previous efforts, is the analysis of the way frames
could contribute to the understanding of the role the media play in the understanding of phenomenon.

Recommendations:
As a result of these findings, it is recommended that the Nigerian press should be encouraged in
reporting terror related news stories positively (emphasizing on policy actions and response to the
situation) especially when it is proven that government is channeling effort to such direction. This has
the benefit of causing the polity to trust the government in times of insecurity and uncertainty. It is also
recommended that the Daily Sun should endeavour not to present news or perceived realities in the
light of ethnicity or religion in a secular and multi-cultural State like Nigeria.

It is recommended that further studies could be expanded to include more framing categories and other
forms of media to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how the media covered an issue.
This is more so, because most studies limit their analysis of manifest content categories to, frequency,
prominence, depth and direction of coverage. This study notes that these categories do not
exhaustively unveil the pattern of media coverage hence, the need for category expansion,

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