ASSESSING MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND THE COVERAGE OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN KANO STATE, NIGERIA
Keywords:
media ownership, control, social movements, Kano State, framing theory, propaganda model,, Marxist theoryAbstract
This study examines how patterns of media ownership and control influence the coverage of social movements in Kano State, Nigeria. Anchored on Framing Theory and Agenda-setting theory, the research investigates the relationship between ownership structures, editorial independence and the framing of social movements such as the #EndSARS protests, the 2020 palliative-looting crisis and the #JusticeForHanifa campaign. A survey design was adopted with 120 questionnaires distributed among journalists, mass communication students and media consumers in Kano; 90 valid responses (75%) were returned. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests. Findings revealed that media ownership significantly influences how social movements are framed in the news. Ownership control often constrains journalistic independence, forcing reporters to align with the owner's interests. Additionally, audiences are highly perceptive of media bias, which affects their trust in news reports. The study concludes that ownership is a key factor shaping media content in Kano. It recommends stronger professional ethics for journalists, clearer regulatory frameworks to protect editorial independence, and increased media literacy for the public to critically evaluate news sources.
References
Adebayo, T. (2021). Framing the #EndSARS protests: A content analysis of Nigerian newspapers. Journal of African Media Studies, 13(2), 215–233.
Althusser, L. (1971). Lenin and philosophy and other essays. Monthly Review Press.
Apuke, O. D. (2016). Media ownership and press freedom in Nigeria. Journal of Communication and Media Studies, 8(2), 45–58.
Bello, A. (2020). The politics of media ownership in Nigeria. Spectrum Books.
Doyle, G. (2002). Media ownership: The economics and politics of convergence. Sage.
Ekwueme, A. C., & Obayi, P. M. (2021). Social media, youth activism and governance in Nigeria. African Media Review, 29(1), 89–108.
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51–58.
Galadima, D. (2021). Proprietorial influence and news objectivity in the Nigerian press. Nigerian Journal of Communication, 15(1), 45–62.*
Golding, P., & Murdock, G. (2000). Culture, communications, and political economy. In Mass media and society (pp. 70–92). Sage.
Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. Pantheon.
Ibrahim, Y. (2022). Media and sectarian conflict: The coverage of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN). Kano Journal of Communication Studies, 8(1), 88–105.
Idowu, L. (2020). Ownership and the framing of protests in Nigerian newspapers. Nigerian Journal of Mass Communication, 14(3), 101–119.
McQuail, D. (2010). McQuail’s mass communication theory (6th ed.). Sage.
Mohammed, A. (2021). Media and society in Northern Nigeria. Tafiq Press.
Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kano Chapter. (2023). Survey on editorial independence and journalists' welfare in Kano State [Unpublished report].
Nwosu, I. (2020). Commercialization and content bias in private broadcasting in Nigeria. African Journalism Studies, 41(3), 102–119.
Okeke, C. (2022). Audience trust and media credibility in Northern Nigeria. Journal of Media and Culture, 10(4), 134–150.
Olayiwola, A. (2021). Media ownership and democracy in Nigeria. African Journal of Media Studies, 13(1), 112–128.
Oso, L. (2012). Press and politics in Nigeria: On whose side? Mass Communication Journal, 5(2), 14–27.
Sani, M. (2022). The Kano media and the politics of representation. In Y. B. Usman (Ed.), Media and politics in Nigeria’s North (pp. 117–135). Ahmadu Bello University Press.
Shehu, L. (2022). The illusion of an independent press: Ownership and control in the Nigerian media industry. International Journal of Media and Politics, 5(1), 77–95.*
Tade, O. (2022). News framing of protest and public opinion in Nigeria. International Communication Research, 9(1), 33–50.
Udoaka, N. (2023). Digital activism and protest coverage in Nigeria. Media and Society Review, 10(4), 57–75.
Yakubu, S., & Musa, A. (2024). Ownership influence and journalistic autonomy in Northern Nigeria. Contemporary Media Studies, 12(1), 76–95.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2025 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, adaptation, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors are permitted to post their work online in institutional/disciplinary repositories or on their own websites. Pre-print versions posted online should include a citation and link to the final published version in Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication as soon as the issue is available; post-print versions (including the final publisher's PDF) should include a citation and link to the journal's website.
