MEDIA ESCALATION OF ETHNIC BASED VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA AND THE NEED FOR CHANGE IN REPORTING PATTERN
By: Foundation for Peace Professionals

This report is to draw attention of the public and appropriate authorities to the role being played by media inappropriate reporting of conflicts that often fuels escalation of ethnic based violence in Nigeria.

Over the years, we have observed a particular pattern of media reporting of conflict, which not only fuel ethnic based violence, but also influences reprisal on innocent people. This inappropriate reporting often come through information distortion and misrepresentation, which not only influences reprisal and escalation, but also transform ordinary conflict between two individuals or groups into ethnic based conflict. The danger of this is that, every conflict between two people of different ethnicity is branded as ethnic conflict, which is not the case whatsoever. While ethnic crisis and conflict is not a new feature in the Nigerian society, the menace, even from inception, owe its growth to irresponsible political/ethnic instigators and its spread and sustenance to the media.

Investigation reveals that when conflict occur between two individuals or groups over materials, business or other forms of disagreement, rather than report it as it is, a conflict over issues between two individuals or groups without any ethnic agenda or consideration, the media concentrates on finding the ethnicity of the conflicting parties and report the issue from that narrow ethnic perspective, thereby empowering ethnic mob to serially target innocent passerby of the other ethnicity. This inappropriate reporting often fuels the anger of one ethnic group over the other, especially in local communities. The accumulation of such anger over time is often unleashed on people of other ethnic groups at the slightest disagreement or provocation between ordinary members of the society.

We are worried that should this pattern of conflict reporting be sustained, the media will not only help sow permanent seeds of discord in the heart of the people, it will also destroy our people’s humanity, which enables them to act cruelly without conscience towards a fellow human being from different ethnicity, something we are already witnessing in the country.

This report therefore became inevitable, knowing that media and all users of social media can use their platforms to positively cause appropriate reporting of conflict and eliminate the distorted reporting that is prevalent in today’s media.

CONCEPT OF ETHNIC CONFLICT
For the purpose of clarity, ethnic conflict is not a conflict between two individuals of different ethnicity or groups over business or other natural conflict in human interactions. Ethnic conflict is a form of conflict in which the objectives of at least one party are defined in ethnic terms, and the conflict, its antecedents, and possible solutions are perceived along ethnic lines. Ethnic violence on the other hand refers to violence expressly motivated by Ethnic hatred and Ethnic conflict. Experts have however maintained that, care must be taken to distinguish ethnic violence, which is violence motivated by an ethnic division, from violence that just happens to break out between groups of different ethnicity motivated by other factors.

Lack of adequate understanding of this difference could largely explain reason for many media organizations falling into the error of misrepresentation, while at other times, media personnel deliberately engage in distortion for other parochial considerations. Media correspondents, as well as news editors must therefore understand that reporting ordinary violence that just break out, out of normal conflict between two individuals as ethnic based violence does more harm than good.

CONFLICT REPORTING
It has been argued that, news gathering, to be sure, is a highly imperfect art, and problems with basic facts, not to mention nuances, are common. But when you are talking about conflicts that are at their root ethnic or religious, the stakes are higher. News reporters and editors must realize that what they often say and write in news report is easily relied upon to cause people to act in certain way and for this reason, reporters should developed the principle that "you don't blow things up, you don't report in an inflammatory manner. The trend has been toward greater sensationalism born out of greater competition. Although, experts maintained that most journalists simply want to tell a story as best as they can.
The key is to change their perception of what constitutes 'best" so that it is understood to mean accurate, fair, in context and responsible. We at Foundation for Peace Professionals are ready to take the time and energy to work with reporters and editors to ensure that they understand what we're talking about for the good of the general society.

The media, both print and electronic, can play an important role in defusing tension, reducing and containing conflicts. It can do so by being deeply aware of the fragility of a country's' social fabric, of the efforts being expended at unifying a country's polarized and ethnicized politics and more importantly by objectively reporting conflict incidences as they unfold. However, recent reports appearing in cross sections of mainstream print media in Nigeria has cast a pale shadow on the role, neutrality and objectivity of media in reporting conflicts. This trend is replicated in greater proportion on the social media.

THE IFE CASE STUDY
Recently, a conflict broke out in the ancient city of Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Verifiable reports confirmed that the crisis began between two individuals without any ethnic undertone. However, the media from the onset reported the incident as a crisis between two ethnicity.

While many media organizations reported conflicting narrations about the cause of the conflict, one underlying fact in all the reports is that, the crisis didn’t start as an ethnic clash and there cannot be an ethnic solution to it. We are forced to ask, how does a conflict between two individuals or groups without ethnic agenda suddenly metamorphosed into an ethnic based crisis? The answer is not far fetched. A rumor backed by media alarm claimed that a member of one ethnic group has been murdered by the members of the other ethnic group. The rumored killing of a man from Yoruba ethnic group by Hausa’s eventually blew the story out of proportion, leading to massive reprisal attack against the Hausa community. A hitherto conflict between two individuals was suddenly turned into an ethnic based conflict. Some people have argued that the rumor didn’t begin with media and with or without the media, the reprisal might still have happened since the rumor emanated from the community. But disagree with this view. Media is a powerful tool, largely trusted by the people. When rumors of such gravity break out in the community, majority of the people do not entirely believe in its veracity. While their sense of awareness is aroused, they know the information could be true or false. However, when the rumor is amplified by the media, it is assumed to be a confirmation of the incident and at this point, many takes the rumor to be true, without holding any iota of doubt. In the course of our investigation, we attempted to convince some people that news from media is not always correct, but they insisted that if it is not true, it wouldn’t be broadcasted by Newspapers, radio and Television Stations. As far as they are concerned, if it is on news, it is true.

In the heat of this sensational report about the ife crisis, Foundation for Peace Professionals conducted its own investigation and discovered that the media claims at that time, about death being recorded are not verifiable. We attempted to caution the media through issuing a press release dated 8th March 2017, but only Daily Trust Newspaper and few other newspapers reported the caution. The crisis that erupted led to the gruesome killings of over forty-six (46) people.

In a sharp irony, the reason why the conflict turned ethnic and degenerated into a big issue was the reported killing of a vulcanizer in the community by some Hausa men. However, after over 46 innocent people were murdered as a result of the rumor and distorted reporting, the man identified as Mukaila vulcanizer, who was reportedly killed resurfaced and said he was never attacked by anyone. When approached and questioned, Mukaila said there was never a time he was at risk of being lynched by the Hausa community.

In his own words, "I was hearing reports from different quarters that I was dead and that the Hausas killed me during the crisis.”I was not even attacked by anybody during the crisis’’. I simply left the area on Friday and resume work on Monday after the crisis. He said.

The question now is that, since the person that was claimed to have been murdered showed up to say no one ever attempted to hurt him, can we also return the over 46 lives lost as a result of the false alarm amplified by the various reports?

We respectfully opined that journalists should avoid simplistic representations of issues by probing further and verifying their sources in order to uphold the dignity of the media and their role in peace building, well beyond reproach. We submit also that media should not be quick to seek gains from crisis; they should instead be fast to build peace and bridges.

CONCLUSION
When talking about the numerous unnecessary deaths, crisis and clashes that have claimed several lives in this country, which merely started as conflict between two individuals or group, but suddenly took the ethnic turn, media culpability, cannot be over looked. Biased and untrue reporting can breed cynicism and disenchantment.

In Rwanda, it is on record that media reporting was used to lay the groundwork for genocide. In Serbia, media was manipulated to stir ethnic tensions prior to civil war. In the former Soviet republic of Georgia, territorial disputes were exacerbated by the propagation of nationalist mythology in the media.

In such situations of misreporting, the ultimate losers are the ordinary people. A whole generation under the influence of canned information, who live in the shadows of the truth, but are filled with hate message that prepare them to permanently develop hatred for people of different ethnicity and view them as threat to be eliminated without conscience. In absence of truth, persistent propaganda reigns supreme and in the end becomes the "truth" because the alternative is missing or deliberately withheld.

We are urging the media to exercise caution in reporting conflict news. We urge media to desist from temptations of scooping stories that make headlines and instead embrace objective journalism that is bedrock to socio-economic development of society with the aim of building peace.

RECOMMENDATION
• We recommend that government should as a matter of urgency, setup an interactive forum to engage media editors about the need for change in media of reporting conflict.
• We recommend that government encourages and support media organizations to train their reporters and editors on the key element of conflict reporting to avoid misrepresentation.
• We also recommend that government make it a priority to host media editors on quarterly basis to jointly review the effect of reporting on conflict escalation in the country.

Thanks.

AMB. Abdulrazaq O Hamzat
President/Executive Director
Foundation for Peace Professionals
Discus4now@gmail.com

About time.

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