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 |
Boko Haram Terrorism, Visual Representation, Pictures and Images, Nigerian Newspapers
[1] | Paletz, David L. and Schmid, Alex P. (eds.) (1992) Terrorism and the Media, london: Sage Publications. |
[2] | Weimann, Gabriel and Winn, Conrad (1994) The Theater of Terror. Mass Media and International Terrorism, New York: longman. |
[3] | Nacos, Brigitte L. 1994. Terrorism And The Media: From The Iran Hostage Crisis To The World Trade Center Bombing. New York: Columbia University Press. |
[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. |
[7] | Tekwani, Shyam. 2008. Media & Conflict Reporting in Asia. Asian Media Information & Communication Centre (AMIC). |
[8] | Hoffman, B. 1998. Inside Terrorism. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. |
[9] | Pillar, Paul R. 2001. Terrorism And U.S. Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution Press: Washington, DC. |
[10] | Adesoji, A. O. 2011. Between Maitatsine And Boko Haram. Africa Today, 57 (4), 99-118. Http://Dx.Doi.Org/10.2979/Africatoday.57.4.99 |
[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. |
[12] | Owuamanam, Jude, Francis Falola & Shobiye Hamed. 2009. The Rise, Threat And Fall Of Boko Haram, In: Saturday Punch (Lagos), 1 August, 2-3. |
[13] | Osisanwo, A. A. 2016a. Discursive representation of Boko Haram terrorism in selected Nigerian newspapers. Discourse and Communication. 10 (4) 341-362. |
[14] | Osisanwo, A. A. 2016b. Role allocation in the media representation of participants in selected electoral discourses in Nigeria. Athens Journal of Mass Media and Communications. 2 (3): 183-204. |
[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. |
[17] | Ayoola, K. A. And Olaosun, I. E. 2014. “Media Representation Of Boko Haram In Some Nigerian Newspapers”, International Journal Of English Linguistics, Vol 4 (3): 49-58. |
[18] | Chiluwa I and Odebunmi A. 2016. On terrorist attacks in Nigeria: Stance and engagement in conversations on Nairaland. Communication and the Public. Vol. 1 (1): 91-109. |
[19] | Osisanwo, A. A. 2017a. Linguistic features of news reports of war on terrorism in Nigeria. Ife Studies in English Linguistics. 13 (2): 57-82. (Nigeria). |
[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. |
[23] | Forceville, C. 2006. Metaphors In Pictures And Multimodal Representations. In R. W. Jr. Gibbs (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook Of Metaphor And Thought, 462-482. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
[24] | Van Leeuwen, T. 2008. Discourse And Pratice: New Tools For Critical Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
[25] | Machin, D. And Van Leeuwen, T. 2005. “Computer Games As Political Discourse: The Case Of Black Hawk Down.” Journal Of Language And Politics 4 (1): 119–141. |
[26] | Machin, D. 2007. “Visual Discourses Of War: Multimodal Analysis Of Photographs Of The Iraq Occupation.” In Adam Hodges And Chad Nilep (Eds.) Discourse, War And Terrorism. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. |
[27] | Kress, G. and Hodge, R. 1979. Language as Ideology. London: Routledge. |
[28] | Kress, G. And Van Leeuwen, T. 2001. Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. London: Arnold. |
[29] | Halliday, M. A. K. 1978: Language As A Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation Of Language And Meaning. London; Edward Arnold. |
[30] | Olateju, M. and Oyebode, O. 2014. Introducing Multimodal Discourse. Ibadan: College Press and Publishers Olowe, J. H. O. 1993. Language And Ideology In Nigerian Newspapers In The English Medium. Phd. Thesis, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. |
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
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
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
@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} }
TY - JOUR T1 - Visual Representations of Newspaper Reportage of Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria AU - Ayo Osisanwo Y1 - 2020/12/22 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajad.20200504.14 DO - 10.11648/j.ajad.20200504.14 T2 - American Journal of Art and Design JF - American Journal of Art and Design JO - American Journal of Art and Design SP - 103 EP - 112 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2578-7802 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajad.20200504.14 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 IS - 4 ER -