Expression of ideologies in media accounts of the 2003 and 2007 general elections in Nigeria

Abstract

Existing studies on media representation of elections in Nigeria do not pay adequate attention to a critical linguistic perspective on language used in reporting electoral matters. Given the fact that ideologies are crucial in elections, this study investigates the ways that cover stories in two Nigerian news magazines, TELL and The News, express the ideological pursuits of social actors in the 2003 and 2007 general elections in Nigeria. The discourse patterns that expressed ideological pursuits in the reports were generally non-neutral. The discourse of the stories indicated an attempt to shape the perspective of readers in elections; the magazines held the view that they are responsible for the social orientation of the electorates. Ideologies are expressed, acquired, confirmed, changed and perpetuated through discourse. They are generally reproduced in the social practices of their members. Both TELL and The News magazines put to use the ideological polarization between the ideological structures of ingroups and outgroups, such that ingroups typically emphasize their own good deeds while they de-emphasise their bad deeds; on the other hand, outgroups de-emphasise or even totally deny their own bad deeds while they emphasise their good ones.