Terrorism in the Public Sphere: Representation of Boko Haram and Banditry in Nigerian Newspapers

This thesis examines the representation of Boko Haram and banditry in four leading Nigerian legacy and online newspapers, namely Daily Trust, Nation, Cable and Premium Times. It investigates how these newspapers construct narratives around terrorism and explores the implications of the structure of the deliberative space on the resolution of the conflict. The study addresses gaps in research on domestic terrorism coverage in Nigeria, which has largely focused on framing in traditional newspapers with limited attention to online‑only news outlets and to the news production context. Guided by a conceptual framework that draws on public sphere theory, peace journalism, gatekeeping and regional parallelism, the study employs a mixed methods design consisting of a content analysis of 862 news articles published in 2022 and thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 15 journalists from the four newspapers. The content analysis reveals that the news coverage predominantly focused on terrorist attacks and official counter-terrorism responses, drawing a parallel between the government’s claims of successes and the lived realities of the communities facing persistent violence. The analysis further demonstrates a connection between the overall dominance of the official narrative in the coverage and the prevalence of security and government sources, who constituted over half of the total sources cited in the coverage. Analysis of the interviews reveals that Nigerian journalists grapple with fast-moving terrorist events amid limited access to reliable information, external pressures, newsroom gatekeeping dynamics, ethical dilemmas and personal safety concerns. Findings of the study show that the media-created public space for deliberation around terrorism is constricted and official-driven, with limited access to alternative voices and perspectives. The thesis contributes to scholarship on media and terrorism in Nigeria by demonstrating the imbalance in the structure of the mediated public space around Boko Haram and banditry and how this constrains conflict transformation and peace‑oriented journalism.