caenanalysis

The story of the 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by a terrorist group was spread across every newspaper in 2014, and the news coverage continued as several of the girls managed to free themselves or were rescued from their captors over the next few months. Almost three years later, this story from the Daily Mail has reported on another girl who has been found by soldiers after she was seen wandering in the forest, and has been identified as one of the girls who were taken in 2014.

The terrorist group responsible for the kidnapping, Boko Haram (founded in 2002), is a militant Islamist group stationed in Nigeria which promotes a division of Islam which makes participating in Western culture (for example, voting in elections, and wearing Western-style clothes) forbidden. While its violent campaign began in Nigeria, they have extended their campaign over the years to neighbouring states. It is unusual, given the number of terrorist attacks over the past year, and the recent refugee intake by European countries, that a conservative institution such as the Daily Mail would choose not to comment on the Muslim influence of the group, as the traditionally right-wing approach towards practising Muslims is to condemn them and brand them all as terrorists. Upon reading this article I was surprised to find a marked absence of politically-charged Islamophobic comments, given that Boko Haram could be seen as the perfect example of the terrorists that the right-wing make Muslims out to be.

This news story comments on both the issue of racism and religion, and their view of children (in particular, girls). Although not much is explicitly stated about the girls, the context leaves the misogynistic views of Boko Haram implied, by referring to their kidnappings in 2014 which branded the Nigerian girls as inferior and indeed inhuman. The article comments on the slow disbandment of the terrorist group as members give themselves up to the government and the army, which could be seen as a positive representation of these particular people as they see 'the error of the ways'.

In my opinion, this story reports as positively as it could on the discovery of another free girl, and the partially successful actions of the government to break up the group. It uses facts and figures to enhance readers' understanding of the issue in Nigeria. However, a failing of the article is its lack of representation of the majority of the girls who it is unsure whether they are even still alive. This unfortunately represents the state of the media and general public - we have become desensitised to reports of terrorist attacks in non-Western countries due to their frequency, and events such as this and the many terrorist attacks in the Middle East are often skimmed over or ignored completely unless they directly threaten or concern us (like the terrorist attack in Paris in 2015).