A Case Study of Nigeria on the Impact of Media Framing in Newspapers on the Electoral Success of Female Political Candidates.

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how media framing in Nigerian newspapers affects female political candidates' chances of winning elections. This research uses the media framing theory as a theoretical framework to investigate how different frames affect public opinion and the outcomes of elections for women in politics. This research is conducted in Nigeria, a nation with a complex sociopolitical environment and deeply embedded gender norms.

The primary methodology of the study is content analysis, which involves methodically going through newspaper stories to find standard frames that are utilised when covering female political candidates. A popular method in media studies, content analysis, enables the quantitative evaluation of media material and exposes biases, patterns, and trends in the way female candidates are portrayed (Krippendorff, 2018).

According to Robert Entman's (1993) expansion of Erving Goffman's (1983) framing theory, audience interpretation and comprehension are significantly impacted by the way media content is organised. In this situation, frames might draw attention to the qualities of female candidates while minimising others, which can affect how the public views them. The study focuses on a number of framing techniques, such as exemplars, catchphrases, metaphors, and portrayals, in order to identify the prevailing narratives in Nigerian publications.

The analysis is based on theoretical understandings from intersectional feminism and colonial/post-colonial studies. In order to comprehend the ongoing influence of colonial legacies on current gender dynamics in Nigeria, it is helpful to read Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks (1952). Because of the influence of colonial history on media representations and societal standards, women are frequently marginalised in public spaces. The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses, written by Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyēwùmí in 1997, not only critiques the imposition of Western gender categories on African cultures but also offers a crucial perspective on how these consequences are still reflected in media portrayals.

Furthermore, the media framing of female candidates is examined in light of overlapping identities, including gender, ethnicity, and class, via the lens of Kimberlé Crenshaw's theory of intersectionality, as presented in On Intersectionality: Essential Writings (2017). Understanding the multifaceted biases that female candidates experience in the media requires an intersectional perspective (Crenshaw, 2017). This approach is informed by Emma Ming Wahl's examination of Black women in Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks (2021), which emphasises the unique difficulties associated with racialised gender stereotypes.

The results of this dissertation show that gender biases are frequently reinforced by media framing in Nigerian newspapers, which has a detrimental effect on female political candidates' chances of winning elections. Many frames highlight traditional gender roles or cast doubt on women's abilities and suitability for leadership roles. These frames hurt female candidates' chances of winning elections by contributing to a negative public opinion of them. By offering insights on how media practices may be changed to support female equality in political representation, this study adds to the larger conversation on gender and media in Africa. The study promotes policy measures and media changes that aid in the electoral success of female political candidates in Nigeria by emphasising the need for more equal and balanced media depictions.