IDEOLOGICAL BIASES IN NIGERIAN ONLINE NEWSPAPERS: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF BANDITRY AND KIDNAPPING FOR RANSOM (BaKiR) REPORTS
Keywords:
Nigerian online newspapers, ideological bias, critical discourse analysis, banditry, kidnapping, ransomAbstract
This study probed the ideological biases rooted in the reportage of Banditry and Kidnapping for Ransom (BaKiR) in selected Nigerian online newspapers. This research adopted van Dijk's socio-cognitive model of Critical Discourse Analysis; the research showed how language and discourse are used to generate reports about insecurity, state actors, and non-state actors. Four online news reports published in 2024 and 2025 were elicited in total: two each from The Daily Trust (representing a Northern perspective) and The Nation (representing a Southern perspective). The work examined the different levels of discourse, such as lexical choices, sentence structure, characterisation of state and non-state actors, how headlines are outlined, thematic focus and the intertextual allusions. These selected reports were chosen because they were suitable for the thematic consideration, had startling headlines, and focused on the dynamic security situation in Nigeria. The research identified rhetorical patterns that unveiled hidden ideological leanings ranging from state and non-state legitimation to civic critique and emotive appeals. The results showed that reporting of BaKiR is not politically balanced but rather reflects profound editorial opinions, political contexts, and socio-economic worldviews. It concluded that online media platforms function as ideological battlegrounds, framing insecurity in ways that either reinforce or resist dominant narratives of power, responsibility, and governance. The study recommended that interrogating media texts as ideological artefacts is crucial.
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