Hostile gatekeeping: The strategy of engaging with journalists in extremism reporting

This article broadly examines the relationship between strategic communications and journalism with specific reference to the issue of violent extremism. Using a case study of reporting on the Boko Haram conflict in Nigeria, it analyses the nature and consequences of engagement among the various communicators involved. The primary data were drawn from focus groups and individual interviews with thirty-two journalists and strategic communicators, and from analysis of Boko Haram videos and Nigerian security forces’ press releases. The findings suggest that journalists have a tense but interdependent relationship with strategic communicators that is characterised by conflict and cooperation, harassment and intimidation. Strategic communicators’ control of the conflict theatre and use of the Internet to reach audiences directly give them leverage in the relationship. They, however, rely on journalists to help enhance the reach and credibility of their narratives, while journalists depend significantly on their media releases

News Values and the Ethical Dilemmas of Covering Violent Extremism

This article examines the relationship between news media and violent extremism to explore the ethical issues emanating from it. It draws on news value theory and journalism ethics literature and analyzes data from individual and group interviews with 41 journalists and newsroom observations to highlight the ethical challenges of covering the Boko Haram insurgency. Findings suggest that journalists face dilemmas in content selection, source relationship, framing stories, and dealing with victims; and that terror reporting impacts on their personal safety and professional sustainability. The elements of newsworthiness push the media toward excessive reporting of extremism but journalism ethics plays restraining roles

Strategic communications, Boko Haram and counter-insurgency

Strategic communications is gaining traction as a potent tool of countering insurgency. State and non-state actors—including insurgent groups—are increasingly turning to it in pursuit of their goals. This article offers a comparative study of the use of strategic communications by both the Nigerian Armed Forces and the jihadi group they seek to obliterate: Boko Haram. It also assesses their impact on the media coverage of their activities. The jihadists deployed both their communications skills and their infamies to put their insurgency onto the global scene. The Army employed a range of tools—some effective, some less so—to counter them. The media’s obsession with jihadi stories gave the insurgents an edge, but the Army managed to disrupt most of their strategies. Extraneous factors do influence strategic communications campaigns, but honesty—or the perception of it—is a necessary condition for their long-term efficacy

Selective believability: A perspective on Africans’ interactions with global media

The transformation of the media landscape, facilitated by advances in communications technologies, has changed the dynamics of media-audience relationship and posed new challenges to reception research. Perhaps nowhere is this as profound as it is in transnational audience studies, for cross-cultural interactions have never been wider. This chapter attempts to highlight a new perspective on African audiences’ engagement with global media and point to new postulates in audience research. It briefly reviews key reception theories, ranging from the effects tradition to active audience paradigm and encoding-decoding model. It then offers a case study on Northern Nigerians’ interactions with international media, particularly the BBC World Service, to unveil the patterns and consequences of such interactions. The mainly Muslim Northern Nigerians were found to be high consumers of Western media products, especially the BBC’s, but with high level of selectivity. Although they regard BBC as the most credible broadcaster that aids their understanding of international affairs and influences their everyday lives, they still see it as a Western ideological instrument that portrays the West positively and depicts the Islamic world and Africa negatively. The findings reveal patterns and particularities of postcolonial audiences’ consumption of transnational media that suggest new theoretical postulates in reception research. They indicate the audiences’ tendency to exhibit a phenomenon of ‘selective believability’ in their interactions with international media. They also highlight the mediating roles of religion, culture, ideology and other extra-communication factors in such interactions; and identify the dynamics of credibility and believability. Credibility appears to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for believability in audiences’ consumption of dissonant messages

British public diplomacy: A case study of the BBC Hausa Service

Perhaps the most reputable broadcaster in the world, the BBC World Service is Britain’s most recognizable soft power resource. Combining the leverages of a long-established institution with a wide network of reporters, well-resourced journalism and skillful deployment of distribution technologies, the World Service has managed to maintain an edge over rival broadcasters. But the inherent contradiction of providing “impartial” news service and promoting British public diplomacy presents a formidable dilemma, as do its dwindling funding conditions and the declining fortunes of Britain in the contemporary global setting. This article looks at the BBC World Service in terms of its engagement with audiences in Africa and its relationship with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, within the conceptual framework of soft power and public diplomacy. Using the documentary research technique and individual and focus group interviews, the study specifically examines BBC’s relationship with Nigeria—its largest radio market in the world—to unveil both the effectiveness and limitations of its public diplomacy role

Mobile telephony and the changing patterns of audiences’ engagement with global media in Africa

This article explores the patterns of transnational audiences’ engagement with global media in a digital age, focusing on experiences in Africa. It is based on a study of Nigerians’ interactions with the BBC World Service, and draws on active audience theory and Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power to assess the relationship. Using qualitative content analysis, focus groups and individual interviews, the study examines Nigerians’ use of mobile phones to interact with the broadcaster. It also analyses how the BBC deployed a multimedia strategy to widen its global reach and attract more audiences in its dual role as a news provider and promoter of Britain’s public diplomacy. The impact of digital technologies on participatory programming and audience interactivity—along with the theoretical implications—is also discussed

Phytochemical and Antimicrobial Study of Jatropha curcus Root

This study investigated the use of Jatropha curcus as a medicinal plant used in treating many microbial infections. The lack of scientific standardization as well as possible therapeutic alternatives against antibiotic resistant bacterial and fungal infections indicates strong need for continuous effort to validate the use of plant material as alternative therapy regimens with similar or higher antibiotic beneficial properties. The present study describes the phytochemical activities and antibiotic properties of Jatropha curcus extracts against S. aureus, E. coli, Klebsiella, Shigella sp, Candida albicans, C. glabrata, C. krusei, C. tropicalisand C. kfyer. The phytochemical analysis was carried out using hexane, ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts of root bark of the plant using standard methods. The antibacterial potency was initially determined by agar well diffusion method for crude extractsof Jatropha curcusfollowed by quantitative evaluation of antibacterial activity by Minimum inhibitory concentration and Minimumbactericidal/fungicidal concentration. Phytochemical screening of all the extracts revealed the presence of alkaloid, flavonoids, carbohydrate, triterpenes and tannins. Steroid was absent in hexane and ethyl acetate but present in methanol extract. Anthraquinones was absent in all the extracts. Sensitivity test result showed that all the test isolates were sensitive to hexane, ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts at 500mg/ml. Staphlococcus aureus, Shigella sp., Candida krusei were found to have Minimum Inhibitory and Minimum Bactericidal/Minimum Fungicidal Concentrations of 31.25mg/ml and 62.5mg/ml respectively in all the extracts. Thus this plant is a potential candidate for drug development for the treatment of diseases caused by these pathogens