Muting subaltern voices: analysis of newspapers’ framing of poverty in Nigeria

The study examines the framing of poverty in Nigeria by three Nigerian newspapers (Punch, The Sun, and Daily Trust), focusing on attribution of responsibility and the visibility of subaltern voices in the discourse. A sample of newspaper reports on poverty (N = 576) from 2018 was content analyzed. Findings demonstrate the prominence of dominant/hegemonic voices in news media coverage of poverty in Nigeria, while subaltern voices were largely invisible. Episodic frames also featured more, while both dominant and subaltern sources framed poverty using episodic frames more than thematic frames. Mostly, systemic causes and solutions were identified for poverty, while responsibility was attributed to the government. The tone of language used in reporting was overtly negative, while there were slight differences in the use of positive and neutral tones in newspaper reportage. The study concludes that the prominence of dominant/hegemonic voices and episodic frames may reflect political and economic elites’ control of the media in Nigeria.