ANALYSIS OF GLOBAL TERRORISM FROM ACADEMIA AND MEDIA PERSPECTIVE

 

Tolulope Kayode-Adedeji¹*, Olusola, Oyero² and Stella Aririguzoh³

¹ Ms., Covenant University, Nigeria, tolulope.kayodeadedeji@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

² Assoc. Prof. Dr., Covenant University, Nigeria. olusola.oyero@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

³ Dr., Covenant University, Nigeria. stella.aririguzoh@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

*Corresponding author

 

Abstract

The global representation of terrorist groups is becoming a trend and drastically affecting negatively, societal peace and future development. The reoccurring attacks by terrorists’ organizations accounts for the increase in terrorist affiliates around the world. In light of this, Opinion leaders such as academic, mass media and politicians interpret and build the understanding of terrorism in the minds of the public through their diverse influential opinions. These interpretations most times result in the escalation of the problem of terrorism and the reaction of the public to the interpretation unconsciously circulated by opinion leaders over the years. This study examines the definitions of two opinion leaders, namely media professionals and academics in predicting public view about the concept of terrorism, while reviewing the other definitions of terrorism as proposed by published authors. These reviews were done using qualitative analysis to extract common words used by media practitioners and published authors in defining and interpreting terrorism. These definitions were content analysed. Tugal word cloud was used to interpret the data gathered. Results revealed that opinion leaders interpret the act of terrorism as mainly political and violence, while journalist believes the act of terrorism is directed to disruption societal peace through threats and intimidation to seek political attention. The study therefore recommends political leader be more honest and truthful to the people about terrorist related problems in Nigeria to clarity perceptions.

Keywords: Terrorists, opinion leaders, media practitioners, media representation, academia and global