The Media and Crisis at the Home Front: Newspaper and Television Coverage of Domestic Violence in Nigeria

Michael Nnabundo NWABUZOR

Department of Theatre arts University of Benin, Benin- City, Nigeria


ABSTRACT

  Previous studies on media framing of gender-based violence focused more on women as though men do not experience gender-based violence. Additionally, majority of the studies on media framing of gender-based violence appear only in newspapers. In this study, I attempted to fill this gap by examining 306 newspaper articles and 171 television stories on gender-based violence in Nigeria. I investigated how the media frame gender-based violence with attention to male and female. I found that where men are victims of GBV, the media uses mostly non-official sources, but when women are victims, the media uses mainly official sources. Also, whereas episodic frame is used to report GBV where women are victims, thematic frame is used in stories were men are victims. The result of the study also showed that newspapers are twice more likely to make suggestions on how to address the problem of GBV than TV. I explored the implications of the results.

KEYWORDS: Framing; Gender-Based Media; Men; Violence; Women

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