Internal Displacement and the Framing of Ins <i>URGENCY</i> : A Predicate Analysis of Media Reporting on Boko Haram in Nigeria

Research on the connection between insurgency and internal displacement either considers a direct link between the two phenomena where one leads to the other or an indirect connection in which insurgency contributes to the creation of a certain environment which is then conducive to internal displacement. This research note is predominantly interested in the later and focuses specifically on the role of media reporting on insurgency. It calls for research on how the predicative framing of urgency in media reporting can contribute to a feeling of insecurity in the population which contributes to internal displacement. In a plausibility probe of the media reporting on Boko Haram in Nigeria, it will indicate that predicates of urgency potentially contribute to the increase of internal displacement in situations of insurgency. By employing a discourse analytical method of predicate analysis to Twitter/X posts by Nigerian newspapers between 2011 and 2019 and combining it with data on the levels of violence and internal displacement it will show that it is the levels of urgency in media reporting rather than the actual level of violence which correlate with levels of internal displacement.