Media coverage on terrorism and counterterrorism in Africa has been the focus of scholarly debate over the past decade. Critical scholars contend that a common journalistic angle reporting on terrorism-related violence on the continent tends to amplify negative narratives of the "weak state" (Mickler, Suleiman, and Maiangwa 2019; Adekunle 2025). This dataset contributes to that debate by questioning how international, regional and national media report on terrorism-related developments in West Africa, primarily from the Al-Qaeda affiliate Jama'at Nusra wa al-Muslimin (JNIM). 4 It comprises 485 news reports from international, regional and local media outlets, categorised by country, type of publication and nature of the coverage topic. The dataset is grounded in the newsworthiness theory, which suggests that the media is systematically biased towards sensational or negative headlines, deemed as "newsworthy" (Galtung and Ruge 1965; Harrington 1989). This dataset may underpin future work on how the newsworthiness theory operationalises in terrorism-related media coverage in West Africa. This dataset also focuses on a particular time period of a post-USAID funding environment, providing space for tracking developments following massive international development funding cuts.

KEYWORDS: newsworthiness theory, media, terrorism, West Africa, JNIM, asymmetric conflict, mis/disinformation

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Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) scholars largely agree on the political significance of the “terrorism” label, even though the extent of that political significance and its impact on local insurgency dynamics is subject to debate. The jihadi insurgency in Sahel countries has received limited attention in this scholarly debate. That limited attention is rather an anomaly, given the intensity of jihadi organisations’ activities in the region. This article offers a systematic analysis of the labelling strategies of Burkina Faso and Niger governments, as well as non-profit organisations, in response to the jihadi insurgency in the Sahel. Using a discourse analysis methodology on a corpus comprised of 504 reports, speeches, and official statements by government authorities and NGOs in Burkina Faso and Niger, this article demonstrates that the labelling strategy of the two countries instrumentalises labels within the existential threat, the marginal security issues, and the dehumanisation of jihadi organisations themes, to introduce escalating framings serving their political agendas. Conversely, non-profit actors tend to “neutralise” the predominantly negative labels to preserve their ability to access and support affected communities. This study also calls for further research into the labelling practices of other relevant actors, including affected communities and the jihadi groups, to deepen our understanding of the complex interplay between labels and conflict developments in the region.

KEYWORDS: labelling theory, jihadi terrorism, Sahel, conflict narratives

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