LANGUAGE IN INDIA

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Volume 25:9 September 2025
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A Critical Discourse Study of Domestic Violence in Selected Nigerian Newspapers Headlines

Covenant Adura Andero

Abstract

This study conducts a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of domestic violence representations in Nigerian online newspapers, specifically focusing on headlines from Vanguard and Daily Trust published between May 2024 and February 2025. The pervasive nature of domestic violence as a significant social issue necessitates examining how media language influences public perception and policy discourse. This research is vital as it fills a notable gap in existing literature, which often neglects the linguistic and discursive strategies used in news reporting on this topic. The main aims are to identify and describe the critical discourse features in these headlines, analyse how these features reflect social context, ideology, and power relations, and evaluate the media's role in shaping public understanding of domestic violence in Nigeria. Using a qualitative research approach and Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional model of CDA for analysis, the study purposively selects and reviews ten news headlines. The findings show that media discourse is a powerful tool for expressing power dynamics, ideological positions, and hegemonic structures. Newspapers employ language that can either reinforce patriarchal norms or challenge them, portray domestic violence as a gendered issue (GBV) or a universal problem, and influence public consciousness through strategic lexical choices and framing. This research contributes to the fields of media studies, discourse analysis, and gender studies by offering a nuanced understanding of the interconnected relationship between language, media, and social power, ultimately calling for more responsible and transformative media practices in reporting domestic violence.

Keywords:Critical Discourse Analysis, Domestic Violence, Media reports, News Headlines

Introduction

Domestic violence constitutes a profound and widespread social crisis in Nigeria, affecting individuals across gender, age, and socioeconomic backgrounds. As the primary channel for information dissemination and public understanding, the media plays an essential role in shaping the narratives that define this issue for the public. Language, as a socially constructed discourse (Boyd et al., 2015), is not only reflective but also constitutive of social reality. The way newspapers frame headlines on domestic violence, through specific lexical choices, grammatical structures, and rhetorical strategies, can greatly influence public perception, legitimise certain viewpoints, marginalise others, and ultimately shape policy responses. The background to this study is rooted in the complex interconnection between language, media, and social issues, where the media serves as a vital system for creating and spreading messages that influence cultural norms and social relationships (Silverstone, 2007). The problem this research addresses is the relative lack of linguistic and discourse-analytic examination applied to how domestic violence is reported in the Nigerian press. Although many studies have explored domestic violence from sociological, psychological, and legal perspectives (Aihie, 2009; Oluremi, 2015; Ibegbulam et al., 2022), and some have looked into media coverage (Adeline et al., 2020; Ekweonu, 2020), a significant gap remains in understanding the power relations, ideologies, and hegemonic practices embedded within the language of these reports. Therefore, this study aims to critically investigate how domestic violence is constructed discursively in selected Nigerian newspapers. Its goals include identifying key discourse features in headlines, analysing how these features reflect social context and ideology, examining the media's influence on public understanding, and exploring points of similarity and difference in vocabulary. The importance of this research lies in its potential to initiate a deeper, linguistically-informed understanding of media framing in Nigeria, providing valuable insights for media practitioners, policymakers, and scholars in communication, linguistics, and gender studies, thereby contributing to a more informed and critical public discourse on domestic violence.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Covenant Adura Andero
Department of English and Literary Studies
Bingham University, Karu
Nasarawa State
aduranderro97@gmail.com

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