Framing of Insecurity in Southeast Nigeria by Nigerian Newspapers: A Content Analysis of The Sun and Vanguard

The persistent security crisis in Southeast Nigeria, characterised by rising incidents of armed violence, civil unrest, and heightened militarisation, has generated extensive media coverage whose framing dimensions have significant implications for public understanding and policy responses. This study analysed the framing of insecurity in Southeast Nigeria by The Sun and Vanguard newspapers, two nationally circulating publications with significant readership in the region. The study was anchored on the Framing Theory propounded by Entman, which holds that media frames promote particular definitions, interpretations, evaluations, and recommendations for described events. A content analysis design was adopted, with a population comprising all news reports and opinion pieces on Southeast insecurity published between January 2022 and December 2023. A purposive sample of 360 editions yielded 542 relevant items coded for dominant frames, sources cited, tone, prominence, and language. Findings indicated that conflict frames dominated coverage in both newspapers, accounting for 67 percent of items analysed, while economic consequence and human interest frames were significantly underrepresented. Government security sources were disproportionately cited, with community and civil society voices marginalised. Vanguard demonstrated slightly more diverse framing than The Sun, though both publications showed consistent securitisation of insecurity discourse. The study concluded that Nigerian newspaper coverage of Southeast insecurity systematically privileges conflict and blame frames at the expense of structural and human interest perspectives. It was recommended that editors adopt more balanced framing policies that incorporate community voices and development-oriented analyses to enrich public discourse on regional security.
Keywords: media framing, insecurity, Southeast Nigeria, newspaper coverage, content analysis