Nigerian Elections
The media in Nigeria is covering the election in such a way that it is clear that it is attempting to preserve the solidarity of the country. The media is well aware of the various factions in the country that are contending with one another for the principle resource that it has: its oil supply and utility for natural energy. However, it is very aware of the tenuous nature of the political situation in the country. The media has reported about the impending election (and its postponement) by largely sticking to the facts. There is a dedicated effort on behalf of the Nigerian media to simply convey the facts surrounding the election in a non-partisan manner. The media is not dwelling on the frequent acts of violence that have occurred and which other media outlets are linking to the violence. In fact, were one simply to read about the election in Nigerian newspapers, web sites, and journals, one would be largely unaware of the sort of horrific violence that other media outlets routinely report.
In this sense -- by merely reporting on the logistics and facts of the upcoming election and not dwelling on the alleged violence that surrounds it -- the Nigerian press is somewhat defending its government. One article in particular simply focused on the various violations in the governmental policy (pertaining to the constitution...
In doing so, it was implicitly reinforcing the fact that there is an organized government in Nigeria, and that there are certain codes and responsibilities that it must uphold. The media is consciously representing the country as one of order and lawfulness, despite the way that other media outlets -- typically in different countries -- seem to not portray the country as such.
There is a marked similarity between the way that the media outlets in the United States and Great Britain portray the Nigerian elections. Moreover, there is a stark dissimilarity between the way these western countries portray the events related to that election and the way Nigerian media outlets portray them. For the most part, the Western nations of the U.S. And Great Britain tend to emphasize (if not overly emphasize) the violence surrounding the elections. They dredge up all sorts of facts and figures about averages of people getting killed in the country every day -- which they relate to the election. Furthermore, they take great pains to portray Nigeria as weak and inept. One article mentioned the fact that Nigeria has the biggest military out of any African nation. It also referenced the alleged Islamic insurgents in the north east section of the country. It alluded to the fact that due to the size of the military…
