On October 20, 2020, the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, Nigeria, became the epicenter of a national tragedy when peaceful EndSARS protesters were reportedly shot at by the Nigerian military. CNN’s investigative report, “How a Bloody Night of Bullets Quashed a Young Protest Movement,” offers a powerful narrative of that night, combining eyewitness accounts, verified footage, and forensic analysis. Through Stuart Hall’s Encoding/Decoding Model, we can unpack how CNN encoded meaning into this media text and how various audiences might decode it—either in dominant, negotiated, or oppositional ways.
Encoding: CNN’s Intended Meaning
CNN’s report is encoded with a clear ideological stance: it frames the Lekki shooting as a state-sanctioned act of violence against unarmed civilians. The use of emotionally charged language—“bloody night,” “quashed,” “young protest movement”—immediately positions the Nigerian government and military as aggressors. The report includes:
Eyewitness testimonies from protesters who describe the chaos and fear.
Geolocated video evidence that contradicts official denials.
Ballistic analysis linking bullets to Nigerian military weapons.
These elements are not neutral. They are carefully selected and arranged to construct a narrative of state brutality, youth resistance, and institutional denial. CNN’s encoding aligns with Western journalistic values of transparency, accountability, and human rights advocacy.
Dominant-Hegemonic Reading: International Viewers
For many international viewers—especially those in liberal democracies—the dominant reading is likely to align with CNN’s intended message. These audiences may decode the report as a credible exposé of authoritarian overreach. The visual evidence, expert analysis, and emotional testimonies reinforce a familiar narrative: peaceful protesters versus oppressive regimes.
This reading is reinforced by CNN’s global reputation and the broader context of the Black Lives Matter movement, which had gained global traction earlier that year. The EndSARS protests, in this frame, become part of a global struggle against systemic violence.
Negotiated Reading: Nigerian Public
Among Nigerian viewers, particularly those sympathetic to the EndSARS movement, the decoding may be negotiated. While many accept the core message—that violence occurred and that the state bears responsibility—there may be skepticism about CNN’s motives or the completeness of the report.
Some may question:
Why CNN focused on this story.
Whether the report oversimplifies Nigeria’s complex political landscape.
If the West is using the incident to undermine Nigerian sovereignty.
This negotiated reading accepts the truth of the violence but resists the implication of helplessness or external saviorism.
Oppositional Reading: Nigerian Government and Allies
The Nigerian government and its supporters are likely to adopt an oppositional reading. From this perspective, CNN’s report is seen as biased, inflammatory, or even neocolonial. Officials initially dismissed the allegations as “fake news” and accused CNN of relying on unverifiable sources.
This decoding rejects the encoded message entirely, reframing the report as:
A misrepresentation of events.
A threat to national security.
An external attempt to destabilize the country.
This oppositional stance is rooted in a broader distrust of Western media and a desire to control Nigeria’s international image.
The Power of Framing
Hall’s theory emphasizes that meaning is not fixed at the point of production. CNN’s report, while meticulously constructed, enters a contested media space where meaning is constantly negotiated. The same footage can evoke outrage, skepticism, or defensiveness, depending on the viewer’s ideological position.
Moreover, the report’s global circulation means it participates in transnational discourses on protest, governance, and media credibility. It becomes not just a story about Nigeria, but a symbolic battleground for competing narratives about power and resistance.
Conclusion
CNN’s “How a Bloody Night of Bullets Quashed a Young Protest Movement” is a potent example of how media texts are encoded with ideological meaning and decoded through diverse cultural lenses. Stuart Hall’s model reveals the polysemic nature of media—how a single report can be read as truth, manipulation, or something in between. In the case of the Lekki Toll Gate shooting, the stakes of interpretation are not just academic—they are deeply political, emotional, and, for many, personal.
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