| Summary: | This study investigates the framing of development aid in media in West Africa. By exploring through the lens of a particular country/region, media/news outlet and with a focus on the decade between 2014 and 2024, the study addresses one main question: How is development aid framed in Nigeria’s Premium Times Newspaper between 2014 and 2024?
This research is grounded in the framing theory, and specifically the media framing theory, which offers in-depth understanding of how the media shapes narratives, influences public perception and tells the audience what to think about. Qualitative methodology is employed to make sense of media frames through a deductive content analysis of media frames. Data was collected through a process of purposive sampling.
The main findings reveal that attribution of responsibility, human interest, and economic consequences dominate media framing of development aid in West Africa. The least dominant frames being conflict and morality. The media makes conscious or unconscious efforts to primarily communicate the financial implications of aid and its impact on everyday people. The media also tries to emphasize how the issues addressed by aid affect people personally, and highlight who or what holds significant roles and responsibility in the donor-to-recipient aid chain.
These frames have shaped media narrative of foreign aid, with no significant shifts over time apart from a shift in the discourse of aid, now emphasizing collaboration and investment. This study is significant because it uniquely converges both fields of media communication and development assistance, offering empirical insights into the framing processes that shape public discourse on development aid and illuminating the various frames through which the media discusses aid.
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