Barriers to Solutions-Oriented Conflict Reporting: An Analysis of The Nation And Daily TrustNewspapers’ Coverage of Farmers-Herders Conflict in Plateau North

Abstract

The study analysed reports in The Nation and Daily Trust newspapers on the farmers-herders conflict in Plateau North between May and October 2018 to identify barriers to solution oriented conflict reporting. The study employed a quantitative content analysis method and a purposive sampling technique to select news, editorials, comments, opinions, and feature stories from The Nation and Daily Trust. Framing theory of the media was adopted as the theoretical foundation for the research. Using thematic analysis, data from the newspapers were quantified and coded along the themes of peace, dialogue, responsibility, and victim frames. The findings revealed that 80% of The Nation newspaper's reports were solution oriented, compared with 26.7% at Daily Trust. The research advocates that media organisations and journalists adopt solution-oriented reporting rather than merely fulfilling their social responsibility to inform the public about the conflict.