Nigerian Press Coverage of Hate Speeches in the Daily Trust, The Nation and The Guardian Newspapers

Abstract

In Nigeria, as well as in modern democratic nations, the press has always functioned as a tool for disseminating information on public affairs, interpreting government policies and programs, and providing a good platform to engage the citizens for discussion on issues affecting society. The media play a powerful role as intermediaries between political leaders and the public. The variables of frequency, location, direction, and journalistic genre were used in the study. Within this context, the study adopts content analysis. The study employs Lazarsfeld and Katz’s Two-Step Flow and Castells’ Theory of Network Society as theoretical framework. The study uses stratified sampling by days of the week and coding sheet as a method of data collection. The study found that the manifestation of hate speech was frequent in the 2015 general election. The study also found that the manifestation of hate speech had an overbearing on political news by the selected newspapers in the 2015 general election in Nigeria. The study concludes that such publications (hate speech) tend to make electorates have a different connotation to a candidate.