Fuel policy palaver: Ideological contestation in three Nigerian news magazines, 1999--2004

The primary research question of this study examines the ideological meanings and political significance of the news media. The coverage of the fuel policy crisis in The News, Tell, and Newswatch, provided a lens through which the study of the political functions of the news media was conducted. The fuel policy crisis was an ideological contest involving the Nigerian government and the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) over the decision by the government to increase fuel prices.;Employing a cultural studies approach to journalism, this dissertation examined the stories of the crisis for how they promoted identification with specific ideological positions and actors in order to explain the news media's political functions. The research found that the reports of the crisis promoted identification with the ideological position of the NLC. Two reasons were found to be responsible for the privileging of the NLC over the Nigerian government in the reports of the crisis.;First, interpretation is inherently part of the storytelling process in news. News stories follow a narrative structure in which evaluation is an integral part of the process. Thus, through the process of evaluating and interpreting the policy crisis, The News, Tell and Newswatch performed a hegemonic function of unconsciously mobilizing support for the NLC and its ideological position on the fuel policy. Second, the construction of the policy crisis was influenced by the cultural environment from which the journalists who constructed the stories operated. The similarity in the meanings in the interviews with the journalists and the meanings in the stories of the policy crisis suggested a collective cultural influence on the journalists. Although each one of them was interviewed individually the cultural frame was evident in the use of "we" in responding to questions when in fact, they were by themselves and should have used "I.".;The findings of this research reinforce the theoretical argument of this dissertation that news texts are not innocent but inherently ideological and the ideology in the news texts must be examined within the wider cultural context to fully understand the news media's political functions.