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Item Discourse of ‘self’ and ‘other’ in newspaper editorials on insecurity in Nigeria(Sage Publications, 2024) Osisanwo, A.The spate of security threats in Nigeria has recently become quite alarming, dominating newspaper headlines and editorials. This article examines the discourse strategies deployed in the representation of ‘self’ and ‘other’ by editorials in two Nigerian newspapers on the security challenges in Nigeria. Drawing insights from Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis, the sampled editorials on insecurity in Nigeria from two e-versions of newspapers from the northern (Leadership Nigeria) and southern (Punch) parts of Nigeria, published from 2017 to 2020 are subjected to discourse analysis. The paper identified the deployment of eight discourse strategies, motivated by nationalist and humanist ideologies. The newspapers polarise between self and other through positive in-group and negative out-group ideologies on the security challenges bedevilling Nigeria with attendant implications for Africa and the world at large.Item “This virus is a common threat to All humans”: discourse representation of COVID-19 in selected newspaper editorials(Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), 2022) Osisanwo, A.Existing studies on viruses with bias for COVID-19 have mainly been carried out from non-linguistic fields. Linguistics-related studies have not examined the media representation of COVID-19 since it is a recent development. This study, therefore, identifies the representational strategies, discourse structures and discourse strategies deployed by selected newspapers in representing COVID- 19 and associated participants. Data were retrieved from selected COVID-19- related editorials from four purposively selected countries and continents across the world: New York Times (USA, North America), The Guardian (UK, Europe), China Daily (China, Asia) and The Punch (Nigeria, Africa), published in the early periods of the pandemic, and precisely from January 1 – March 31, 2020. Guided by aspects of van Dijk‘s socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis on ideological discourse structures, data were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The newspaper editorials unusually converged to negatively represent an issue – COVID-19 – because it is largely negatively viewed by all. Ten representational strategies (like economic cankerworm, threat to humans, common enemy), six discourse strategies (like demonising, criminalising, condemnation) and twelve ideological discourse structures (like Actor Description, Authority, Burden) and different participant representations and roles (like solver, potential super spreader) were identified in the study. The newspapers largely set the agenda on the negative representation of the virus and its potential havoc on all facets of human endeavours, thereby giving emotional and informational appeal to all to join hands in earnestly silencing the epidemic.Item Discourse and visual strategies in framing internet fraudsters in selected Nigerian newspapers(Department of English, University of Ibadan., 2021) Osisanwo, A.; Olaniyi, T.Fraudulent activities on the Internet have become a challenge to unsuspecting internet users. Informed by the observation that the representation of internet fraudsters and their activities in the media still remains a blind spot for researchers especially within the ambit of linguistics and allied areas, this work critically examines the discourse and visual strategies that are deployed by selected Nigerian newspapers to frame internet fraudsters and their activities. Excerpts of news reports published by four national newspapers, The Punch, Nigerian Tribune, The Nation, and Vanguard, between January 2021 and May, 2021, which contained both texts and pictures about internet fraudsters, constitute the data for this study. Theoretical insights were gleaned from van Leeuwen's social actor approach to critical discourse analysis and Halliday's transitivity model. Four textual (identifying, stating, narrating and indicting) and visual (individualisation, collectivisation, location and colouration) strategies each were deployed in framing internet fraudsters as moneybags, youths, students, fetishists, impersonators and drug peddlers. Nigerian newspapers frame internet fraudsters as social actors whose actions have substantial socio-economic implications in the country.Item Discursive representation of Boko Haram terrorism in selected Nigerian newspapers(Sage Publications, 2016) Osisanwo, A.Studies on terrorism with bias towards Boko Haram (BH) have mainly been carried out from nonlinguistic fields. The few linguistics-related studies that have examined the media reportage of the BH activities, with emphasis on the discourse and linguistic strategies deployed in the representations, have not been sufficient. This study, therefore, identifies the linguistic and discourse strategies deployed by selected newspapers in representing the BH and other social actors. For data, headline and overline stories are purposively sampled from four newspapers, published from 2011 to 2014, from the northern (Daily Trust and Leadership Nigeria) and southern (The Punch and The Nation) parts of Nigeria. The analysis is guided by a combination of critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics. In all the reports subjected to analysis, 13 representational strategies were identified, while at least 15 tools from Van Leeuwen’s categorisations were used in representing social actors. The newspapers also deployed discourse strategies to manage the voices of social actors, identify and specify the social actors and action, label, condemn BH activities, among others. The mediated reports on BH insurgency orientate Nigerians.Item Discursive Construction of the Goodluck Jonathan Administration in the War against Boho Haram Terrorism in Selected Nigerian Newspapers(Department of English, University of Ibadan., 2016) Osisanwo, A.