Representation of Women in Nigerian Political News: Analysis of Online Newspapers Deborah Amokele Ugbe Submitted to the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Communication and Media Studies Eastern Mediterranean University January 2018 Gazimağusa, North Cyprus Approval of the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Hakan Ulusoy Acting Director I certify that this thesis satisfies the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication and Media Studies. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Agah Gümüş Acting Dean, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies We certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication and Media Studies. Asst. Prof. Dr. Yetin Arslan Supervisor Examining Committee 1. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hanife Aliefendioğlu 2. Asst. Prof. Dr. Yetin Arslan 3. Asst. Prof. Dr. Bahar Taşeli Sakallı ii ABSTRACT In the 21st century, women in Nigeria still face challenges in politics both in the local and national offices. In a world where media is one of the most important agencies of identity construction and representation, it is important to study how the media represents women in Nigeria. This thesis looks at the representation of the women in Nigerian political news during the general election in 2015. The Guardian and Vanguard online newspapers have been reviewed covering the period of February to April 2015. In doing so, the study employs textual analysis from a gender perspective to analyze and understand the approaches used by the media. The finding reveals that, in political news in Nigerian online newspapers women are marginalized and represented only with “supportive” roles. Women stories mostly covered if the news portrays women under the shadow of men; as wives or/and mother. The study concludes that the online print media in Nigeria portray politics as a male dominated sphere. The study points out the need for a change in the media coverage of the women stories and news in Nigerian political news, for the benefit of the society. Keywords: political news, online newspaper, Nigeria, Women, Representation, media coverage, general elections. iii ÖZ 21. yüzyılda yaşadığımız bugünlerde Nijerya siyasi hayatında ve bu siyasi hayatın medya temsillerinde kadınların yeterince temsil edilmemesi bu tezin motivasyonunu oluşturur. Bu nedenle, en önemli kimlik kurgu ve temsil kurumlarından biri olan medyada kadının nasıl temsil ettiği önemlidir. Bu tezde 2015 Genel Seçimlerinde Nijerya’daki çevrim içi gazetelerin politik haberlerinde kadınların nasıl temsil edildiğine bakılmıştır. The Guardian ve Vanguard çevrim içi gazeteleri Şubat-Nisan 2015 tarihleri arasında incelenmis ve kadının politik haberlerde temsiliyet biçimlerini anlamak için toplumsal cinsiyet perspektifi kullanılarak metin analizi yapılmıştır. Çalışma sonucunda, Nijerya’daki çevrimiçi gazetelerin politik haberlerde siyasetin erkek egemen bir mecra olarak temsil edildiğini, kadınların bu mecrada marjinalize edildiğini ve sadece “destekleyici” rollerde temsil edildiklerini söylemek mümkün. Kadınlar çok az haberde yer bulabiliyorken, yer bulabildikleri haberlerde ise ya anne yada eş olarak yer bulabildikleri de gözlemlenmiştir. Çalışma toplumun menfaati için medyadaki kadın temsillerinin değişimine duyulan ihtiyacın altını çiziyor. Anahtar Kelimeler: politik haberler, Nijerya, kadın, temsil, çevrimiçi gazete, medya, genel seçimler, iv To all women who are striving every day to be the best version of themselves, to all women who have being discriminated due to their gender and color by the media and society. Thank you for inspiring me. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My sincere appreciation and gratitude goes to my thesis supervisor Assist. Prof. Yetin Arslan for her support, encouragement, advice and believe throughout the writing of this thesis. I am extending my most sincere immense gratitude to my family and friends for their support and sacrifices during my studies. I am equally grateful to the whole faculty of communication and media studies professors whose lecture help me advance and improve my academic skills and background knowledge which has great impact on this thesis. Thank you for being amazing mentors, i am forever indebted. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... iii ÖZ ............................................................................................................................... iv DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ v ACKNOWLEDGMENT ............................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................... xi 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 General background of study: A personal note ........................................................ 9 1.2 Purpose of study ........................................................................................................ 14 1.3 Research design .......................................................................................................... 15 1.4 Significance of study ................................................................................................. 17 1.5 Limitation of study ..................................................................................................... 17 2 LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................................ 19 2.1 Defining Media .............................................................................................. 19 2.2 Media representation ...................................................................................... 20 2.3 History of politics in Nigeria ......................................................................... 25 2.4 Histories of women in politics ....................................................................... 27 2.5 Brief history of women in Nigeria ................................................................. 31 2.6 Women representation in Nigerian politics .................................................... 34 2.7 Media coverage: Underrepresentation of women in politics ......................... 36 2.8 Media: How women are represented in political news ................................... 42 2.8.1 Media framing on underrepresentation of women in politics ................. 45 vii 2.9 Media’s responsibility .................................................................................... 49 3 METHODOLOGICAL APPROCH ....................................................................... 52 3.1 Online newspaper: The Guardian and Vanguard ............................................ 53 3.2 Research questions .......................................................................................... 55 3.3 Research design .............................................................................................. 56 3.4 Main methodology: Textual analysis ............................................................. 57 3.4.1 Content analysis ...................................................................................... 59 3.4.2 Discourse analysis ................................................................................... 59 4 RESEARCH FINDING AND ANALYSIS ............................................................ 62 4.1 Comparative coverage of women news on The Guardian and Vanguard newspaper and others ..................................................................................... 62 4.2 Women role in politics: Article on The Guardian and Vanguard newspaper . 64 4.3 Online (print) media coverage on women political stories ............................ 65 4.4 Women reporters and women stories .............................................................. 75 4.5 How are women in politics represented by the online newspaper? ............... 80 4.6 Location of stories on women in the online print media ................................ 82 4.7 Does the media frame women in politics as objectified candidate to promote their perception as less competent in handling political position? ................. 83 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ..................................................... 87 5.1 Further Research ............................................................................................ 95 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 96 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ 108 Appendix A: Online newspaper articles analyzed .............................................. 109 Appendix B: Illustration ..................................................................................... 138 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Headlines and non-headlines represented sentences of women political stories .....................................................................................................................................70