Political Economy of Conflict Sensitive Reporting in Nigerian Mass Media

Abstract

Most of the interesting stories by journalists are about conflict. It forms the back-bone of their stories and it is characterised with fiction. The conflict does not have to be a violent one it may be a clash of ideas or ideologies, a disagreement about policies or principles, or an argument about the distribution of resources etc. The media have been criticised of worsening crises through biased, partial and irresponsible coverage and reporting. The paper examines how political economy shapes the coverage of conflict sensitive reporting in Nigeria, and provides a conceptual review of the variables. Agenda Setting Theory has been adopted as the theoretical framework of this study. The study concludes that political economy interest in one way or the other shapes conflict sensitive reporting in Nigeria, both in print and broadcast media sequences as they record high patronage in reporting and sensationalising conflict. The study recommends that the media should engage in responsible practices in times of conflicts.