Suchergebnisse

This study examines the frames and tone of media coverage of the anti-open grazing law of Benue State, Nigeria. Two print media – the Punch and Leadership newspapers – as well as two broadcasting channels – Channels TV and the Nigeria Television Authority (TVA) were studied from June 2016 to November 2017. A total of 10 journalists who reported stories on the anti-open grazing law were also interviewed for the study. The result showed that most of the stories cited Benue indigenes as sources. The result also showed the dominance of horror and hope frames while the tone of framing was largely positive in support of the law. Findings also revealed that factors that influenced journalists' framing of the conflicts range from intrinsic to extrinsic ones. The implications of these results for conflict reporting are also explored.

This study investigates newspaper coverage of the conflict between farmers and herdsmen in central Tiv land, Benue State, Nigeria, with specific emphasis on text format, frequency, prominence, depth of coverage, language of reports and audience assessment of this coverage. Two newspapers – Daily Sun and Daily Trust – were selected for the study which covers a period of 12 months. Content analysis and survey were adopted for the study with email and telephone interviews as instruments for the survey. Results showed, among others, that the text format for both newspapers was mostly straight news (64.5%). Findings further showed that the newspapers only covered the conflict as it happened but little attention was paid to victims of the conflict in newspapers reportage. The result of the study also showed that 71.3 percent of the stories on the conflict were published on the inside page. It is recommended that Nigerian newspapers should refrain from episodic reportage and set a proper agenda for the Nigeria public on conflicts. Further studies are also recommended to include more newspapers in the sample.

This study examines blog coverage (October 2018 to October 2019) and its engagement with citizens regarding internally displaced persons in Nigeria. Approximately 85 stories of internally displaced persons were covered on Naija.com . This study found a significant difference in the appearance of internally displaced persons' stories on the blog, appearance of the stories in the headline, length of stories used in describing internally displaced persons and the tone used. Most of the internally displaced persons' stories appeared in the blog's headlines, suggesting that blogs in Nigeria give prominence and importance to the stories of internally displaced persons. A large number of the stories were described in 400–600 characters, and most of such stories described the internally displaced persons' situations via a negative tone. Surprisingly, there were very few stories of governmental support, but stories that demonstrate the internally displaced persons in a vulnerable state and exposed to various diseases, prone to attacks, raped, fed inadequately and in need of humanitarian assistance were predominant. As such, a significant association between the frames used and users' comments and views online was found. Stories that framed the internally displaced persons in a vulnerable state had a greater number of views and comments and those that had more realistic still/graphic images attracted more comments and views.

This study modelled the factors that encourage misinformation diffusion behaviour among social media users, with a focus on Nigerian social media users. To gather our data, we used an online survey to sample 385 social media users using a chain referral approach. Smart partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data. We discovered that social tie strength, virality, social media usage intensity and fun all predicted misinformation circulation. Conversely, trust in social networking site (SNS) and parasocial interaction were not found to be related to misinformation spreading. The study concluded with some theoretical and practical implications.

Fake news is widely shared on social media platforms, and while the literature is expanding, study into the motivations behind such sharing has not yet provided many answers. Drawing from the cognitive load theory and literature on resilience, we developed and tested a research model hypothesising why people share fake news. We also tested the moderating role of social media resilience. We obtained data from 1068 social media users in Nigeria using a chain referral technique with an online questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. Our findings suggest that information overload and information strain strongly predict fake news sharing. Social overload and irrelevant information also contributed to fake news sharing behaviour. Furthermore, resilience moderated and weakened the effect of information strain, information overload, irrelevant information, and social overload on fake news sharing in such a way that this effect is more pronounced among those with low resilience. This indicates that those with low resilience tend to share fake news when confronted with much information on social media. The study concluded with some theoretical and practical implications.

This study modelled the factors that encourage misinformation diffusion behaviour among social media users, with a focus on Nigerian social media users. To gather our data, we used an online survey to sample 385 social media users using a chain referral approach. Smart partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data. We discovered that social tie strength, virality, social media usage intensity and fun all predicted misinformation circulation. Conversely, trust in social networking site (SNS) and parasocial interaction were not found to be related to misinformation spreading. The study concluded with some theoretical and practical implications.

This study ascertained the effectiveness of social media-based art, music and poetry therapy intervention in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of flood victims. A quasi-experiment involving 330 flood victims randomly assigned to a control and treatment group was carried out. Furthermore, the treatment group was divided into three to form the social media-based art, music, and poetry therapies group, respectively. The therapy was delivered through a WhatsApp group. The study revealed that social media-based therapies were effective in reducing the PTSD symptoms of participants in the experiment group, as compared with the control group. Social media-based poetry therapy was found to be more effective than art and music therapies in treating PTSD. This finding directs relevant authorities and medical experts as to the best kind of social media-based therapy to employ when restoring the minds of people who have been through tragic experiences such as flooding. To offer their therapies, particularly to dispersed flood victims, hospitals and other healthcare facilities that are prepared to offer psychotherapy services to patients may want to consider using social media.