NJOMACS

The study examinesnewspaper framing of Nigeria's 2011-2015 presidential elections, in Daily Trust and The Punch Newspapers, with the aim to unpackingthe implicit meaning in news frames, using headlines in the front pages of these newspapers. A total of 158 messages were analysed in both newspapers published 30 days to the elections, between March 17, and April 15, 2011, and between February 26, and March 27, 2015. The study employed content analysis and critical discourse analysis. The findings revealed among others that, Daily Trust utilised more “collective action” frames most times in its coverage, while The Punch tends to be tilted more towards the adoption of “conflict frames”, hence, some of the front page headlines were rather partisan, conflict insensitive out-rightly irresponsible, where language was used as a strategy for ideological projection and mind control. The study concludes that the newspapers coverage of the presidential candidates is reflective of the influence of two strong propaganda model filters: ownership (and profit maximization) played a major role in framing messages. The recommends among others that further studies on politics and elections should be undertaken in TV, radio and social media, to draw similarities and differences in message framing.