Introduction In the realm of journalism, crises reporting play a pivotal role in informing and educating the public about events that have the potential to impact people’s lives and livelihood. The reportorial analysis of crises news is a critical aspect of journalism, as it seeks to provide a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the situation at hand while also highlighting the consequences of such crises on individuals, communities, and societies at large. This position was considered one of the bedrocks of journalism, entrenched for the provision of stories that reflect social reality in a way that put the interest of the populace first (WoleShoyinka 2023). It is against this background that this work delves into crises reportage of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) – a wholly government funded media, to analyse the ownership influence and the operational media laws that shape the station’s scopes on truth, fairness and balance in relation to reporting of Banditry, Kidnapping and Terrorism in Nigeria. The study is premised on framing theory. This theory suggests that the way in which information is framed can significantly impact how individuals interpret and understand that information. One aspect of framing theory is the concept of "media frames," which refers to the selectivity model by which fact and truth elements are projected or suppressed to suit certain political or economic inclinations Methodology Thematic method was adopted to analyse NTA’s reports on terrorism and banditry, using purposive sampling to select terrorism and banditry news available on NTA YouTube channel. The period covers eight months from September 2020 – May 2021. The qualitative approach afforded the researcher to analyse the news bulletins under 8 headings – (1). region of news occurrence, (2). Headline, (3). main issue, (4). framing, (5). narrative of the news, (6). Theoretical frameworks, (7). Reportorial models and (8). Depth of coverage in other to adjudge whether the news item align with the principle of journalism. NTA uploaded one terrorism/banditry news on its youtube channel every month. Therefore, a total of eight terrorism/banditry news were analysed from the online channel. Findings Thematic analyses of the selected stories revealed that NTA mainly employed pro-government narratives to extol the government and its agencies using subtle sophistry to prove government is poised to probe nameless terrorist sponsors. Besides, most of the stories are sourced from government functionaries/agencies, while other parties opinions are gatekept in tandem with oath of secrecy they had sworn to – according to Akinfeleye (2020). This is against the principle of journalism that stories should reflect the purviews of all important sources. NTA news bulletins online cite government sources without adequate social context. Conclusion and Recommendations News items and reportage, especially those that concerns functionality of the government to its people are subjective and polarised on NTA resulting in lower viewership compared to the likes of Channels and Arise TVs. The government owned station is still much under the claws of the ruling politicians with no much regards to principles and ethics of journalism. As a result, the news network is highly under-utilized and abused judging by the amount of public funds propelled to make it run nation-wide. Keywords: News Framing, Context, NewsValue, Narrative, Reportorial Model
Olubukola Oluyemisi FAKEYE, Esosa Rita ODUWOBI