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Constructing corruption as a social problem in Nigeria : a content analysis of four Nigerian newspapers

Chikwendu, R.C. (2016) Constructing corruption as a social problem in Nigeria : a content analysis of four Nigerian newspapers.

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Abstract:This study has investigated the prevalence of four frames in the coverage of corruption as a social problem in four Nigerian newspapers. The frames include conflict, morality, responsibility, and economic consequences, which were identified through previous studies on frames and based on their frequent use in defining social and policy issues. Social problem scholars agree that social problems do not exist as objective conditions, but are collectively defined through public discourse. Thus, to capture this very essence of collective definition of corruption, this study also developed five frame variables, which include: the nature, causes, actors, consequences, and possible treatment of the problem. Further, twenty-three (23) frame elements – around the main frames and their variables – were deductively and inductively defined through literatures and news articles. The frame elements serve as the lowest factors that inform the present or not present of the main frames in analytic texts. A sample size of 295 news articles were randomly selected and content-analyzed during the period of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria, that coincided with the period of this research. The results showed a uniform pattern across newspapers in how frames are used to construct the problem of corruption. Overall, responsibility, morality, and economic consequences frames, in this order, were dominantly used to frame corruption. To rephrase it, Nigerian newspapers described corruption more meaningfully as a social problem in terms of responsibility, morality, and economic consequences frames. Keywords: corruption, framing, social problem, media, newspapers, and content analysis
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:71 sociology, 88 social and public administration, 89 political science
Programme:Public Administration MSc (60020)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/70865
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