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Visual Representations of Newspaper Reportage of Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria

Received: 27 November 2020     Accepted: 8 December 2020     Published: 22 December 2020
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Abstract

The Boko Haram terrorists have consistently attacked Nigerians in different parts, especially the northern part, of the country. The actions and inactions of this group have been covered, visually and verbally, by different media outlets. Extant studies on Boko Haram (BH) terrorism in Nigeria have gained attention from scholars from other non-linguistic fields. Hence, sufficient attention has not been paid to BH terrorism by linguists. Some of the linguistic studies that have examined the coverage of the BH actions and inactions have emphasised the verbal representations, neglecting the visual representations of the reports. This study, therefore, examines the pictorial representations in selected newspapers in representing BH terrorism. In gathering data, BH-related pictures and images are purposively selected from four newspapers which were published from 2011 to 2014. The four purposively selected newspapers, that is, Daily Trust, Leadership Nigeria, The Punch and The Nation are representative of the northern and southern parts of Nigeria. The newspapers allocate space to the pictorial representation of the BH activities. The analysis is mainly guided by van Leeuwen’s (visual) representation of social actors; and complemented with other relevant multimodal models. The newspapers’ visual representations cognitively and imaginatively influence readers’ experiences in relation to the activities of Boko Haram terrorists.

Published in American Journal of Art and Design (Volume 5, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajad.20200504.14
Page(s) 103-112
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Boko Haram Terrorism, Visual Representation, Pictures and Images, Nigerian Newspapers

References
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[4] Nacos, Brigitte L. 2002. Mass-Mediated Terrorism: The Central Role Of The Media In Terrorism And Counterterrorism. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.
[5] Spencer, Alexander (2012): Lessons learnt: Terrorism and the Media. Wiltshire: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
[6] UNESCO. 2017. Terrorism and the Media: A Handbook for Journalists. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
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[11] Agbiboa, D. E. 2014. “Boko-Haram And The Global Jihad: ‘Do Not Think Jihad Is Over. Rather Jihad Has Just Begun’”. Australian Journal Of International Affairs.
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[13] Osisanwo, A. A. 2016a. Discursive representation of Boko Haram terrorism in selected Nigerian newspapers. Discourse and Communication. 10 (4) 341-362.
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[15] Odebunmi, Akin & Oloyede, Folashade. 2016. ‘Frames and Pragmatic Strategies in Nigerian Newspaper Reports on Boko Haram Insurgency.’ Language, Context and Society. Eds. Odebunmi and Ayoola. 265-288. Ile-Ife: OAU Press.
[16] Ogungbe. E. O. And Alo, M. 2014. A Critical Study Of Verbal-Visual News In Nigerian E-Newspapers. Segun Adekoya Et Al (Eds) Current Linguistic And Literary Issues In Digital Communication In The Globalised Age. 51-80.
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[20] Osisanwo, A. A. 2017b. Stance and engagement in e-punch newspaper readers’ comments on former President Goodluck Jonathan administration’s war against Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria. Journal of English Studies Association of Nigeria. 19 (1): 143-160.
[21] Osisanwo, A. A. (2017c). Stance and engagement in Facebook discourse participants’ response to the news of Chibok girls’ release. In Adebola Ekanola, Stephen A. Odebunmi & Babatunde R. Ojebuyi (Eds.) Polity Debacle and the Burden of being in Africa: Proceedings of the Third Biennial Conference of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. 390-415.
[22] Kress, G. And Van Leeuwen, T. 1996. Reading Images: The Grammar Of Visual Design, London: Routledge.
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[24] Van Leeuwen, T. 2008. Discourse And Pratice: New Tools For Critical Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Ayo Osisanwo. (2020). Visual Representations of Newspaper Reportage of Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria. American Journal of Art and Design, 5(4), 103-112. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajad.20200504.14

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    ACS Style

    Ayo Osisanwo. Visual Representations of Newspaper Reportage of Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria. Am. J. Art Des. 2020, 5(4), 103-112. doi: 10.11648/j.ajad.20200504.14

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    AMA Style

    Ayo Osisanwo. Visual Representations of Newspaper Reportage of Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria. Am J Art Des. 2020;5(4):103-112. doi: 10.11648/j.ajad.20200504.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajad.20200504.14,
      author = {Ayo Osisanwo},
      title = {Visual Representations of Newspaper Reportage of Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria},
      journal = {American Journal of Art and Design},
      volume = {5},
      number = {4},
      pages = {103-112},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajad.20200504.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajad.20200504.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajad.20200504.14},
      abstract = {The Boko Haram terrorists have consistently attacked Nigerians in different parts, especially the northern part, of the country. The actions and inactions of this group have been covered, visually and verbally, by different media outlets. Extant studies on Boko Haram (BH) terrorism in Nigeria have gained attention from scholars from other non-linguistic fields. Hence, sufficient attention has not been paid to BH terrorism by linguists. Some of the linguistic studies that have examined the coverage of the BH actions and inactions have emphasised the verbal representations, neglecting the visual representations of the reports. This study, therefore, examines the pictorial representations in selected newspapers in representing BH terrorism. In gathering data, BH-related pictures and images are purposively selected from four newspapers which were published from 2011 to 2014. The four purposively selected newspapers, that is, Daily Trust, Leadership Nigeria, The Punch and The Nation are representative of the northern and southern parts of Nigeria. The newspapers allocate space to the pictorial representation of the BH activities. The analysis is mainly guided by van Leeuwen’s (visual) representation of social actors; and complemented with other relevant multimodal models. The newspapers’ visual representations cognitively and imaginatively influence readers’ experiences in relation to the activities of Boko Haram terrorists.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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    AU  - Ayo Osisanwo
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    JF  - American Journal of Art and Design
    JO  - American Journal of Art and Design
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    AB  - The Boko Haram terrorists have consistently attacked Nigerians in different parts, especially the northern part, of the country. The actions and inactions of this group have been covered, visually and verbally, by different media outlets. Extant studies on Boko Haram (BH) terrorism in Nigeria have gained attention from scholars from other non-linguistic fields. Hence, sufficient attention has not been paid to BH terrorism by linguists. Some of the linguistic studies that have examined the coverage of the BH actions and inactions have emphasised the verbal representations, neglecting the visual representations of the reports. This study, therefore, examines the pictorial representations in selected newspapers in representing BH terrorism. In gathering data, BH-related pictures and images are purposively selected from four newspapers which were published from 2011 to 2014. The four purposively selected newspapers, that is, Daily Trust, Leadership Nigeria, The Punch and The Nation are representative of the northern and southern parts of Nigeria. The newspapers allocate space to the pictorial representation of the BH activities. The analysis is mainly guided by van Leeuwen’s (visual) representation of social actors; and complemented with other relevant multimodal models. The newspapers’ visual representations cognitively and imaginatively influence readers’ experiences in relation to the activities of Boko Haram terrorists.
    VL  - 5
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Author Information
  • Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

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