Assessment of Nigerian Journalists’ Attitude towards the Use of New Media Forms in Journalism Practice

Abstract

The emergence of New Media has brought enormous changes to the practice of journalism. Many journalists around the world now adopt these media forms in their daily operations, especially in the areas of research, information gathering and dissemination. With the financial constraints faced by most journalist in developing nations, no one knows whether Nigerian journalists have embraced New Media forms in the practice of their profession. This is the thrust of the study. It is aimed at finding out the percentage of journalists in South Eastern Nigeria who make use of New Media forms, the new media forms they use and the factors that promote or mitigate against the use of New Media forms by journalists. Using survey as the research design, purposive sampling technique was used in studying 300 registered journalists in South East Nigeria. Questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection while Likert scale was used in analyzing the generated data. Findings revealed that few journalists make use of e-mails, facebook, twitter, blogging and podcasts in their daily operations. It was also revealed that financial constraints, lack of encouragement from employers as well as lack of constant supply of electricity, pose as setbacks to the use of New Media forms by journalists. The study recommends that government and owners of media establishments increase journalists pay package, and make electricity supply regular so that journalists could have access to New Media forms.

Key words: New Media, Old Media, Interactivity, Netizens.