Pages: (1-19 )
Abstract
The study examined the media framing of Bola Tinubu’s 2023 presidential election campaign by Arise TV and TVC News. Anchored on framing and agenda-setting theories, the study adopted a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach to analyse five major campaign events: Naira scarcity coverage, Chatham House engagement, Bulablu bulaba gaffe, first and last campaign coverage. Data consisted of recorded news reports and in-house commentaries repeatedly viewed, transcribed and analyzed. The findings revealed a clear difference in the framing patterns and tone of the two selected television stations. Arise TV predominantly employed controversy, criticism, allegation, and accountability frames, which resulted in a predominantly negative tone for the selected broadcasts. In contrast, TVC News employed a supportive and clarification framing approach, resulting in a positive tone. These findings indicate that the two television stations constructed the same campaign events in different tones through their selected headlines, language, visual presentation, and omissions. The study concludes that television stations can construct different political representations of the same candidate through the selection and presentation of campaign information and therefore recommends that broadcast organizations strengthen their editorial independence and adherence to fairness and balance of political coverage and enforce existing standards on balanced electoral reporting.
Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis, Media framing, Political communication, Presidential campaign, Television broadcasting,