Revisiting the Role of Media in the Fight against Armed Banditry in Zamfara State, Perspective on the Major Silent Issues
Media has been one of the major actors that are considered critical in the management of armed banditry in Zamfara state since 2008. It has always played the leading roles in terms mediating between the victims, the bandit actors as well as the state authorities. There has been growing concern as to the understanding of the extent and limitations of the media when it comes to coverage and reporting of the armed bandit activities in Zamfara state. While many stakeholders especially those from the government angle tried to misunderstood the validity of the operations of the media, especially on what to report and what not, the media tried to tore in between the borderlines of reporting the acts of banditry as a way conveying the sad feelings of the common people as well as reporting banditry incidences as a means of promoting the bandit actors. It is on this premise that this paper seeks to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the roles played by the media since the beginning of the armed bandit activities in Zamfara state in 2008 and also discuss some critical silent issues as they relates to whether or not media has been on the right track as regard to sticking to the co-media ethics. The paper adopted mixed research methodology of literature review and field interviews with a view to ascertaining facts and subject them to critical evaluation.
