Who picks the meaning?

 The CNN video, “How a Bloody Night of Bullets Quashed a Young Protest Movement”, shows footage from the October 20, 2020 Lekki Tollgate during the #EndSARS protests in Lagos. It blends CCTV clips, eyewitnesses, expert analysis, and on-the-ground audio to build a narrative of state violence. You see military shooting, protestors fleeing, and bystanders recounting chaos and fear. CNN packages this as strong evidence that unarmed youths were shot by soldiers, questioning government denials and showing the brutality in real time. It’s clear CNN wants us to believe the state used live bullets against citizens.

CNN builds a story that goes against official government claims. It starts with images of darkness and a tense voice-over, unfolds through CCTV showing armed troops facing protestors, and ends with experts and victims noting the missing accountability. This narrative puts the Nigerian military firmly in the wrong and frames #EndSARS as a human rights crisis needing international attention. By including military forensic expert commentary and bullet casing origins, CNN is encoding a message: this was a massacre.

But once viewers get the message, they decode it in different ways.

Local protesters are likely to adopt the dominant reading. They’ve been demanding justice for police brutality, and this video confirms their worst fears. CNN’s coverage echoes the videos they themselves recorded on phones, the trauma they carried home. Seeing the footage and hearing global experts validate their reality, they’re empowered. It signals that the world is watching. For them, decoding is clear: “Yes, we were shot, they lied, and we are right to keep pushing.” The video becomes proof, not propaganda.

The Nigerian government, however, is decoding it in an oppositional way. To them, CNN’s story threatens national image and challenges internal narratives. Nigeria’s federal government and military have denied any live ammunition was used; they’ve called CNN’s reporting “fake news” and threatened sanctions. From their perspective, CNN picked selective footage, didn’t talk to official sources, and ignored legal and procedural context. They reject the encoding outright decoding as malicious or biased journalism aimed at destabilizing the country. For this audience, CNN is an external threat, not a neutral reporter.

International viewers, human rights activists, diaspora, global media often take a negotiated reading. They emotionally resonate with the footage: gunfire, fear, crying. But they also understand geopolitics: CNN is an American network with its own history of framing, and local complexity exists. This reading is nuanced: “I see why #EndSARS protesters feel betrayed, but I also know that no outlet is perfectly balanced. More sources should be heard.” Their decoding doesn’t fully accept CNN’s claims, but doesn’t dismiss them either. Instead, it sits in the middle: conviction plus caution.

This variation in decoding shows Stuart Hall’s model in action: encoding (CNN’s clear narrative) meets multiple decodings based on audience identity, trust, and political alignment.

What’s crucial is the broader implications of this video. For local audiences, the dominant decoding fuels continued protest and a call for reform. It empowers grassroots activism that we are not invisible. For the government, oppositional decoding frames media as an enemy, justifying press restrictions and threats. It reinforces authoritarian control under the guise of protecting national unity. For international viewers, negotiated decoding might spark solidarity campaigns petitions, UN statements, diaspora voices but also caution in slandering every claim, seeking due process.

CNN’s report isn’t just telling one story it’s shaping global perception. Its encoding is a political act. And Hall reminds us that meant-for-one-audience isn’t how media works. Once released, interpretations are fluid and driven by viewers’ backgrounds.

In conclusion, CNN encoded a strong, critical narrative, aiming to challenge state explanations and rally international support for #EndSARS. Local protesters decode it dominantly as validation of their trauma and struggle. The Nigerian government decodes it oppositional, as manipulation and attack. International viewers decode it negotiated, recognizing injustice but demanding more verification. That range illustrates how texts aren’t fixed — they live in viewers’ minds, shaped by identity, experience, and politics.
CNN’s video becomes a crossroads of meaning, contested and vital in shaping what Lekki tollgate will come to stand for in history. And Hall says the power is not just in the camera it’s in who’s watching (audience).