Newspaper Framing of Ethnic Issues and Conflict Behaviour in Nigeria RASAQ M. ADISA* Abstract News framing impact on public opinion and behaviour formation have been severally established. However, its influence on conflict behaviour has remained elusive or has not been adequately examined and positioned. This study explored framing of ethnic issues and conflict behaviour in Nigeria through a mixed methods design of qualitative and quantitative. Findings revealed that conflict behavior impulses and structural factors such as poverty, domination, and inequality are helixes but occasional realistic trigger for the eventual action was traced to newspaper framing and ethnic group leaders’ rheostat. The study concludes that the existence of ethnic groups in Nigeria is not a sufficient reason for hostility and ethnic conflict but for certain roles played by media and manipulation of some ethnic group leaders that cached in on government failure. This paper recommends further examination of social media influence on conflict behaviour and possibility of ethnic conflict triggering due to its wider reach and timeliness than conventional media. Key Words: News Framing, Conflict Behaviours, Newspaper Frames, Ethnic Group Leaders, Multiethnic Society Introduction Nigeria development problems are partly linked to ethnic issues and conflict (Irobi, 2005), therefore the prevalent ethnic conflicts in some regions of the country has given rise to strong concern and at the same time stimulated new interest in ethnic conflicts research (Onwuzuruigbo, 2010).In view of this, the paper explored newspaper framing of conflicts and ethnic group leaders’ conflict behaviours. This was important in order to establish the involvement of newspapers and the ethnic group leaders in the conflict that has set ethnic groups against each other and threatening the existence of Nigeria. Though, in the past, the subject of political and religious conflict has received the attention of several Nigeria scholars (Adisa & Abdulraheem, 2012; Bagaji, 2010; Ebegbulem, 2011; Musa & Ferguson, 2013; Olubomehin, 2012; Onwuzuruigbo, 2010) but hardly do we have attention focused on the media involvement alongside ethnic group leaders’ conflict behaviours. Therefore, one of the critical gaps, which this study has responded to, is what Hutchison (2013) describes as inadequate research attention that is devoted to ascertaining factors responsible for changes in individual attitudes and behavior that eventually lead to conflict. _______________ *Rasaq M. Adisa is a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria JCMR Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 8, No. 1, April 2016, 67 – 85 ©Delmas Communications Ltd.