Investigative Reporting and Press Coverage of Corruption in Nigeria (1999-2012)
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Investigative Reporting and Press Coverage of Corruption in Nigeria (1999-2012) Suleiman Amu Suleiman (100061378) Being a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies University of East Anglia, Norwich September 2017 Acknowledgment: To my Examiners, Professor Katrin Voltmer and Professor John Street, for your diligence, kind consideration and support To my Supervisors, Dr Marina Prentoulis, Dr Sanna Inthorn and Dr Li Zhang, for your patience, guidance and mentorship every step of the way throughout these long years To my parents, Alhaji Ndagi Suleiman and Hajiya Fatima Mustapha, for first showing the path and walking me along To my wife, Aishah Musa for being there all through and holding it up when my nerves fail To my son, Suleiman Jnr for all those years I missed To my brothers, Muhammad, Muhammad, Ibrahim, Abdullahi, and sister, Hadiza, for the continuing affection and support To Professor Alan Finlayson, Dr Susan Doyle, Dr Maja Simonjak, Dr John Turnpenny, Dr Martin Scott, Dr Pierre Bocquillon, Dr Michael Fraser and Dr Elizabeth Cobbett, Dr Juliet Harkin, Dr Rhoda Beskeni, Dr Samuel T. Ende, Dr T. Wuam, Dr Victor Egwemi, Professor Ibrahim Bello-Kano, Professor Umaru Pate, Dr A. D. Alhassan, Dr Ibrahim Suleiman Lemu, and of course, Dr Abubakar Minjibir, and all my teachers, for all the kind support To all my friends, Isah, Naziru, Abdulmutallib, Mustapha, Abubakar, Shuaibu Adamu, Ahmad, Aliyu Vulegbo, Garhe, Jamila, Yasmin, Dooshima, Motilola, Maryam Lemu, Zainab Usman, Genevieve Bossa, Aisha Nnamashe, Alhassan, Salisu and many others I cannot name, for all the friendship and togetherness To all colleagues and doctoral comrades in the Faculty of Humanities PGR study room, Akin, Sam, Asmau, Nansata, Ali, Jareh, Yuxin, Susan Wang, James, Sara, Bushra, Sam, Danny, Mike and many more not mentioned here, for all the collegiality and support To all my respondents, for all the time and trouble And to the University of East Anglia for THAT studentship! To the unity, security and prosperity of Nigeria, Africa and the world To express my debt and gratitude to you all will require the length of another thesis. But thank you all and best regards! 2 Contents Abstract: .............................................................................................................................................. 7 Chapter One: Introduction: Research context: ..................................................................................... 10 1.1 Introduction: ............................................................................................................................... 10 (a) Period of study: ........................................................................................................................ 12 1.2 Democratization in Africa: .......................................................................................................... 16 (a) African Experience: ........................................................................................................... 18 (b) The Nigerian Experience: .................................................................................................. 21 1.3 What is Corruption? Defining and measuring corruption: ......................................................... 23 (a) Measuring Corruption: ...................................................................................................... 25 (b) Corruption in Nigeria: ....................................................................................................... 26 1.4 Press, politics and political development in Nigeria: .................................................................. 28 (a) Media development in Nigeria: ........................................................................................ 29 (b) Media and political development in Nigeria: .................................................................... 32 1.5 Defining the research problem and brief outline of thesis: ........................................................ 36 Chapter Two: Literature review and theory ......................................................................................... 42 2.1 Introduction: Liberal media theory: Universals and particulars ................................................. 42 2.2 Norms of liberal press: Press freedom and watchdog journalism: ............................................. 46 2.3 Investigative reporting as a liberal norm: ................................................................................... 51 2.4 Press freedom in Nigerian:.......................................................................................................... 56 2.5: Watchdog journalism and investigative reporting in Nigeria: ................................................... 62 2.6 The research questions: .............................................................................................................. 67 Chapter Three: Data Collection Processes and Procedures: ................................................................ 70 3.1 Introduction: ............................................................................................................................... 70 3.2 Triangulation and mixed methods research: ............................................................................ 74 3.3 Data Collection Phase I: Content Analysis: ................................................................................. 77 (a) Sampling procedure: media, content and period selected: ............................................. 78 (b) Selecting relevant content: ............................................................................................... 81 3.4 Unit of analysis, content categories and coding scheme/procedure: ........................................ 82 (a) Unit of analysis: ....................................................................................................................... 82 (b) Content categories: ................................................................................................................. 86 (c) Borderline Stories: ................................................................................................................... 94 3.5 Data Collection Phase II: In-depth interviews and newsroom observation: .................................... 96 (a) Media ethnography: Sampling, interviewees, access and interviewing: ........................... 98 3.6 Reliability, Validity and Pilot Study: .............................................................................................. 103 3 3.7 Reflexivity and ethical considerations: ......................................................................................... 107 3.8 Data Analysis and Missing Samples: ............................................................................................. 108 Chapter Four: Data I: Corruption in the Nigerian press (1999-2012) ................................................. 117 4.1 Introduction: ................................................................................................................................. 117 4.2 Coverage of corruption: Frequency, Prominence, Trends, Publications ...................................... 121 (a) Variations by publications: .............................................................................................. 125 (b) Lead Corruption stories:.................................................................................................. 126 (c) Annual trends of coverage: ............................................................................................. 128 4.3: Sources of corruption stories in the Nigerian press: ............................................................... 130 (a) Corruption investigating authorities as sources of corruption news: ............................ 132 (b) Anti-corruption Agencies (ACA) Category: ...................................................................... 133 (c) National (and State) Assembly (NA) Category: ............................................................... 135 (d) Commissions of Inquiry (COI) Category: ......................................................................... 136 (e) Other Category: ............................................................................................................... 137 (f) Foreign Media and Diaspora/Online Media Categories: .................................................... 140 (g) Independent Media Investigations (IMI) Category: ........................................................ 141 4.4 Following and talking corruption in the press: ......................................................................... 141 (a) Follow-up stories: .................................................................................................................. 141 (b) Narratives of corruption: ................................................................................................ 144 Chapter Five: Discussion I: Strong watchdogs, weak investigators? .................................................. 147 5.1 Introduction: ............................................................................................................................. 147 5.2 Situating press coverage of corruption in Nigeria: ................................................................... 148 5.3 Anti-corruption as political culture in Nigeria:.........................................................................