NIGERIAN NEWSPAPER AND THE COVERAGE OF TERRORISM (A CASE STUDY OF DAILY TRUST)

CHAPTER ONE

 Introduction

1.1       Background to the Study

       Terrorism is the exercise of violence or the threat of violence against an unarmed and/or unsuspecting population to coerce it to meet the demands of the aggressor.

            In this context, terrorists usually have as its target a civilian population not a military force, unless the latter has had little or no reason to anticipate hostile action against it. For example, suicide bombers exploding their bombs in a crowded market place would be terrorists, but small boys throwing stones or even gasoline bombs at tanks in a riot would not be, while the tanks, themselves, could easily become instruments of state terrorism. Alade,  W. F (2010)

        Schmid and De Graaf, (2000) cited in Alade,  W. F (2010) define terrorism as “the deliberate and systematic use or threat of violence against instrumental (human) targets  in a conflict between two or more parties, whereby the immediate victims who might not even be part of the conflicting parties.

        The United Nations General Assembly quoted in (Koh; 2002). defines terrorism as a criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes… whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other nature that may be invoked to justify them.

         According to U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as quoted by The Terrorism Research Center 2002). Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

      Similarly, Nigeria as a nation-state is under a severe internal socio-economic and security threat. As a more general level, the threat has social, economic, political and environmental dimensions. Each of these dimensions has greatly affected the nation‘s stability, and can be traced to the ethnic militia armies, ethnic and religious conflicts, poverty, terrorism, armed robbery, corruption, economic sabotage, and environmental degradation (Ilufoye, 2009).