Forced migration and the Framing of InsURGENCY: A Predicate Analysis of Media Reporting on Boko Haram in Nigeria

Research on the connection between insurgency and forced migration 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 migration. 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 newspapers can contribute to a feeling of insecurity in the population which contributes to forced migration. In an illustrative case study of the media reporting on Boko Haram in Nigeria it will indicate that predicates of urgency potentially contribute to the increase of forced migration in situations of insurgency. By employing a discourse analytical method of predicate analysis to reports in Nigerian newspapers between 2012 and 2022 and combining it with data on the levels of violence and forced migration 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 forces migration.