media has not lived up to expectation in keeping to the path of honour.

The media has not lived

above nepotism, bribery or monetary inducement and blackmail The media has in some cases

fallen under the influence of king makers, quota system, ethnic blas, roligious bigotry etc. The

media has over the years been colored, shaped or influenced by emotions, sentiments and other

extraneous forces at work. This has made it difficult for the media to truly float its own

programme and agenda In recent times the Nigerian media tends to pose inherent dangers to

national security in connection with politics, religion, ethnicity, power and revenue sharing

which are crucial to a stable and enduring democracy. On the political sphere, newsmen are

expected to report about the activities of the politicians and are expected to feed the public with

objective information. The newsmen are expected to nose around for information beyond the

ovation at political rallies (Omego, 2015).

2.2

Empirical Review

The role of the mass media in crime prevention and control in Nigeria, a research

conducted by Ojoand Dada (2013). The research was aimed towards examining the role of mass

media in crime prevention and control, vis a vis the functional role of the media in protection of

fundamental human rights, prevention and control of child abuse, prevention of suicide,

campaigns against driving offences and curbing corruptions. The research further used

qualitative design through interview as its methodology Findings from the research shows that

there are shortcomings of news report on crime in the media, and it was recommended that

government should give press (mass media) in the country adequate freedom to do their work,

and to desist from intimidating, threatening or torturing journalists, in the course of carrying out

the responsibilities of investigating and reporting crime in the society Therefore, this study is

closely related to the study under review, as both studies examined the role of media in crime
prevention and control which is one of the ways of ensuring secured society. However, while the fomer
looks at the media at large and Nigeria as a nation, the latter looked at the perspective of

newspapers in covering insecurity in Nigeria

Concurrently, Soola (2007) conducted a research on "Coverage of Crime and Violence in

Nigerian Media Matters Arising". The study critically examined the often ignored, and at best-

perfunctorily handled, aspects of coverage of crime and violence in Nigerian media Social

Responsibility, Framing, and Attribution theories provided the theoretical anchor for the study,

and narrative technique was used as methodology. Thus, the study concluded that as "matters

arising a good number of questions should agitate the minds of crime and violence reporters, as

they embark on the sacred responsibility of covering crime and violence in Nigerian mass media,

Also, Iteogu and Jibowo (2019) in their research on "Education, Media and Security: The

Case of Nigeria, aimed at analyzing the relevance and promotion of security through education

and the mass media, with the use of development media theory as theoretical justification. The

research used in-depth interview method to elicit responses from the respondents who are

majorly elites in the society. Findings showed that there is a common chord among the different

components of socioeconomic and political strides that links national security and eternal

vigilance by citizens and agencies of state statutorily empowered to so do. The study

recommends that promotion of security must receive the greatest official and individual attention

to ensure safety for all citizens through the instrumentality of education and effective media-

driven enlightenment

Ikenna (2008) in his research study on print media coverage of crisis employed content

analytical method. The researcher found that coverage of crisis by the Nigerian print media is

nothing but biased orchestrated by sentiments and selfishness. The study also revealed that the

print media often reports crises in such a manner that it triggers the conflicts. The study recommended
caution by the print media in their reportage of crisis. This view was supported by

Hassan, (2009) when he revealed in his study that the print media in Nigeria often relegate
objective and fair reportage to the background whenever they are reporting crisis/conflicts. The

study, unveiled that the print media report crisis in line with the interests of their owners and

ethnic affiliations

Njoku (2010) also revealed in his study of print media coverage of crisis in Nigerian that

the print media have not fared well in their reportage of crisis in Nigeria. The study found that

the print media usually take sides in the crisis by subjectively covering the conflicts. The

researcher also observes that the direction of coverage of these crises obviously points to the fact

that the print media have not been objective in their coverage of crises in Nigeria. The reviews

have showed that media have a significant role to play in informing the masses on political

events and issues in the society. This will ensure all form of insecurities like conflicts, mass

killings, banditry, kidnapping among others are mitigated. Although none of the reviewed works

employed framing to ascertain how newspapers framed issues of insecurities. Thus, this study

under review, is an attempt to fill that lacuna.

The various empirical works above have pinpointed towards the role mass media plays in

improving the security of lives and properties, crime prevention, coverage of crime, promoting

societal change, upholding human rights and serving as a medium of educating the populace on

security. However, few of them explored newspapers coverage of insecurity, while none of them

content analysed dominant frame used by newspapers in their coverage of insecurity. There is no

doubt that mass media (newspaper) is a major instrument for creating awareness, hence; the need

to utilize it towards raising people's awareness, and the need for them to be security conscious in

their respective environments.