This piece is not a dissection of the activities of the Boko Haram Sect, neither is it an analysis of the security and political threats that it poses to the nation. If you want to read all about that, Google will be a good place to start. What this article seeks to address however, is the role of the media, the traditional media to be precise, in the whole imbroglio.
The role of the media is primarily the dissemination of information. However, there are certain times when the dissemination of information is bound to cause more harm than good (which we hope was the intended effect of information dissemination in the first place). At such times, the media owes the public the responsibility of controlling the amount of such information that is disseminated. This is especially true when reporting crime events. According to a study carried out in London, ‘one of the consequences of the high levels of news coverage of serious crime is that the public develops a distorted view of the prevalence of certain types of offending behaviour….’ (Hough and Roberts, 1998). This tells us that media reportage of disturbing events needs to be done with caution, weighing the benefits of informing the public against the possible fallouts that may occur as a result.
In the past couple of weeks, the media space has been awash with news of Boko Haramic activities, which I must say neither inspires hope nor provides entertainment. The rate at which news keeps coming regarding the activities of the sect has left me questioning whether the role of the media is actually information dissemination or terror campaign spread. Almost every day, Nigerians wake up to heart-wrenching details of the latest in the series of achievements of the insurgent camp. Even the Android – iOS wars could not have boasted better media coverage.
To the undiscerning, the media houses are just doing their job – reporting the incident(s) as they occur, thus keeping the citizens abreast of facts and galvanizing our ‘nonchalant’ government into action. Three questions that we need to answer however are: 1). Has the ceaseless reporting translated to a decrease in the activities of Boko Haram or increase in the level of government actions to check the insurgency? 2). Are the people more enlightened about the insurgency? 3). Is information being publicized to educate the populace or is it being used to increase popularity of respective media houses through sensationalism? I think the answers to these questions are pretty obvious. For instance, while (most) media reports tend to portray Boko Haram as a single, unified entity fighting for a mixed number of reasons, studies have shown that ‘… Boko Haram is not a unified monolithic entity. There are separate factions within the movement who disagree about tactics and strategic directions. In some cases, they compete against each other for attention and followers’ (Boko Haram JSOU Report 2012). This is a vital piece of information that, if used well, can tilt the scales in the favour of national security. However, the media is too busy marking score sheets and publicizing opinions of bodies who intend to score cheap ‘political’ points. So, the question again, is the information being disseminated enlightening the populace or just creating an atmosphere of panic and insecurity.
I am not saying that reporting incidents is a bad thing. In fact, credit should be given to the media for helping Nigerians and indeed the whole world see the horrors that innocent civilians are being made to face in areas where Boko Haram operates. However, the usefulness of that phase is fast disappearing and it is high time the media moved beyond mere recitation of events to providing the public with knowledge needed to make things better. That is why there is a field called investigative journalism. The point I am trying to make is that the sect has been accorded too much undeserved and unnecessary publicity, to the extent that we as a nation now expect the next big thing from them every day. We subconsciously look forward (with fear, of course) to the next attack on some unsuspecting village. The government on the other hand has been portrayed, albeit indirectly as a weak organization incapable of handling the ‘more organized’ Boko Haram. This further adds to the general perception of helplessness among the populace as well as boosting the confidence of the insurgent group(s). At this point, it is worth mentioning that I am not vouching for the government’s capabilities or the lack of it.
It is safe at this point to borrow from Sola Fagurosi’s article, his advice to the security forces (of a supposedly normal government system) that they begin to exploit the media to their own advantage. Propaganda! I hear someone scream. Yes! There is a psychosocial aspect to warfare and terrorism, which is why terrorist organizations release video tapes regularly. If the security forces do not use the media (social media inclusive) to their own advantage, the Boko Haram and other insurgents will…., to the detriment of the nation. In our case, the situation becomes more peculiar given the mistrust between the government (along with its security arm) and the people it governs.
This is where political will and Perception Management (a complex word for PR) comes to play. First, there must be a will to change from a corrupt, inept and uncaring government to one that is ready to solve the challenges facing it. However, having the will won’t do any good if it is not communicated to and seen by those who are being governed. This is where the influence of the media is to be felt. It is however unfortunate that our media has unconsciously sided with the unpopular side, giving them free-of-charge publicity while the government has been unable to counter (effectively) either with words or actions. The definition of terrorism by Bruce Hoffman subtly highlights the crucial role of the media and the need for a sense of responsibility. ‘Terrorism is the deliberate creation and exploitation of fear through violence or threat of violence… in the pursuit of political change.’ The creation of and the exploitation of fear needs amplification if it is to be successful and only the media can provide this platform.
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Ifeoluwapo Odedere is a medical doctor, blogger and photographer. He tweets from @hypoxia13
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.
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Terrorism thrives on publicity, true! so how do you counter terrorism? Gag the media ? unless you censor the news churned out every hour by traditional media, I don’t see how it’s possible to “RESTRICT” the coverage of Boko Haramic news. asking the media to reduce its coverage of the atrocities committed by these group is like asking an infant not to cry when hungry. Just as you mentioned that Boko haram are not one unified group, so is the media. if media house A refuses to go on air with a particular piece of news, who says media houses XYZ won’t. This is one of the “side-effects” of free media and the only way to counter it is to use the media to your own advantage too by giving maximum coverage to your activities. Unfortunately, whether this sounds palatable or not, the Nigerian govt has been more than helpless throughout this conflict with relatively little to show for its efforts at containing the menace. Worse still is the secretive nature of our security agencies. You can’t expect the media to always tell your side of the story if you starve them of necessary information. The high handedness exhibited by the security agencies when asked basic questions like number of casualtiesin an attack gives room for speculations and misinformation. Not everything is top secret!!!! if more news come from the wing of the security agencies, I’m very sure the media will give them a fair hearing…. that’s what free media does.
Great piece Ife, I believe the government could meet with the media houses and explain this strategy to them. That doesn’t preclude doing what it’s supposed to as regards fishing out these insurgents. Government must also realise it needs to gain the trust of the community it is trying to protect and fast, or else we wud hav guerilla warfare on our hands, which can be protracted and for which we are ill prepared.
True words!