Media Framing of MohBad's Death and Posthumous Stardom

Abstract

Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba, popularly known as MohBad, was relatively 
unpopular during his lifetime. The news of his tragic death on Tuesday, 
September 12, 2023, was widely covered by the Nigerian media. News 
stories interviews with friends and family and retrospectives created a 
buzz of enduring grief and nostalgia. After his demise, MohBad's fame 
and popularity soared more than when he lived. Using different framing 
choices, the media successfully turned the tragedy into a national and 
even international issue. While some media outlets chose to
sensationalize the issue, some indulged in speculation, rumours, or 
invasive details. Thoughts, memories, images, and videos of the deceased 
singer reintroducing his life and struggles frequented the media. Long 
after his passing, there is still no consensus reached about the cause of his 
death but diverse public opinions and views. Therefore, this study 
investigated how MohBad's death and posthumous celebrity status were 
framed by the media. The study adopted content analysis of the research 
method. 115 newspaper stories (mostly digital) and 115 YouTube videos 
from September 12th to October 25th, 2023 were analyzed. Findings 
revealed that 67 newspaper stories representing (58.3%) used suspicious 
killing frames while YouTube videos had 60 representing (52.2%). There 
was no statistically significant difference between the media frames used 
in the YouTube videos and the newspapers. The media should be encouraged to deeply investigate topics of interest as there was a huge gap 
of information in the reportage of MohBad's death.