DIMENSIONS OF INTERNET COMPLIANCE IN NEWSGATHERING AMONG JOURNALISTS IN NIGERIA

HOW E-REPORTING IS CHANGING THE FACE OF JOURNALISM PRACTICE IN NIGERIA: AN ANALYSIS OF MAJOR NEWSROOMS IN NIGERIAJOURNALISTS IN NIGERIA
[email protected], [email protected]
Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State,
Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
The present state of information gathering, collation and dissemination in the newsrooms of
media houses in Nigeria is appalling. Unlike what operates in the developed nations of Europe
and America, not much achievement is being recorded in the area of Internet development of
newsrooms and updating the technological skills of journalists in Nigeria. This research is an
analytical study of the state of Internet compliance among media practitioners in Nigeria, and its
deployment to media use. Indices for measurement include availability of internet facilities in
newsroom, percentage of staffs that are internet compliant, percentage of internet time devoted to
newsgathering, and the frequency of internet related trainings for journalists. The application of
Chi-Square shows a dismal level of compliance as all the null hypotheses were rejected at 5%
level of significant with the degree of freedom of 9.
Key Words: Internet, Information, Newsgathering, Media Practitioners/Journalists, Mass Media
The media has over the years been a veritable source of information. It has assisted through its
organs to inform impact, educate, entertain and create an enabling environment for transmission
of message that could transform life through word; written or spoken. Over the years a lot of
transformation had taken place in the media. Technology has changed its mode of operation
while journalism has transformed from its rudimentary position as a trade to the status of a
challenging profession. That must have accounted for the transformation being witnessed in
newsrooms. The obsolete Olympia typewriters are vastly given way to sophisticated computers
as the age of telephone assisted reporting has become a relic for the achieves.
The launching of Telster 1 Satellite on July 10, 1962 was the beginning of the revolution. For the
first time live television picture was sent from the United States to Europe and later to the
transatlantic world (Wikipedia 2009). Advancement in wireless greatly expanded global
communication through the development of the short wave transmission that provided
communication assess to radio services.
The adoption of Computer-assisted Reporting (CAR) in 1996 has changed the face of news
reporting in the newsrooms all over the world. Ross (2002: 22-23) observed that today’s
journalists have embraced the web and e-mail as reporting tools. But the question remains: How
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is the new development affecting the practice of journalism in Nigeria? And to what extent is the
internet usage affecting media audience?
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Years back, newsgathering was a Herculean task to journalists who are mostly identified with
note pads and blue pen that made deadline a dreaded word in most newsrooms. Apart from the
distance journalists covered in search of news, information received was stale or outdated and
did not present the true picture of what journalists have reported.
During the eighteen and the nineteen centuries, news and information traveled slowly. Quinn and
Lamble (2008: 9) observed that: The American Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 was
not reported in England until more than six weeks after the event. Also, it took almost two weeks
for news of Nixon victory at Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, to reach the people of England. That
is why Geoffrey Blainey (1982.222) noted that
The main job of Australian newsmen had always been the boarding
of an incoming ships and the collecting of the latest English
newspapers until the telegraph replaced incoming steamers as the
fastest carrier of news
The introduction of telegraph changed the face of news gathering. It did not only increase the
speed at which journalists worked, but made news to get into the newsrooms on time for
processing instead of the traditional way of waiting for the ship or train to supply items needed
for news stories. The frequency of news items made media historian, Kieve (1973:72) to observe
that newspaper editors “had to make up their minds quickly and be ready to think in the course of
a single night as news no longer came all at one time, but continuously.”
Other developments of note are Isaac Pitman’s invention of Pitman shorthand in 1837 that
formed the basis of John Robert Gregg invention of another brand of shorthand in 1888. Quinn
and Lamble (2008:11). The value that shorthand added to the practice of journalism of the age
was enormous. It encouraged speed and allowed the interviewee to take maximum note during
an interview. A later improvement on the medium of communication was the invention of the
telephone by Alexandra Graham Bell. Bell with the support of his partner, Thomas Watson had
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applied the new technology to transmit music to subscribers and as advance information to
customers with message sent by telegraph.
But the invention of Information Communication Technology (ICT) has greatly assisted
globalization in the conquest of distance, in saving time and in removing cultural barriers
hindering free flow of information. Deuze and Dimoudi (2002: 97) opined that:
The new-media technologies are perceived to empower people and
further democratize the relationships between consumers and
producers of content (be it news or information). It also connects
to on-line media logic as a concept which includes the notions of
the audience as an active agent in redefining the workings of
journalism.
MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM PRACTICE
Multimedia form of journalism has introduced a new dimension to news gathering, news
processing and news distribution. Ross (2002:4) said that the web and e-mail are becoming the
“soul of newsgathering”. It has increased the rhythm of the news business in keeping time. In a
recent research organized by Columbia University Graduate School, nine out of ten respondents
to a national survey of the new role of American journalists were of the opinion that Internet had
fundamentally changed how journalist worked.
More than 92 percent are in agreement that the new technologies and the Internet had made their
jobs easier and made journalists more productive (Rose 2002:27). Also, a study of mass
communication students in Australia revealed that students were more likely to obtain their news
from the Web than from printed newspaper. It was discovered that all the students interviewed
use e-mail extensively; researched online rather than with books and carried their mobile phone
with them at all times (Quinn and Bethel, 2006:51).
Multimedia journalism has its impact on the audience, who are no longer restricted by what they
watch or read.
People are consuming more and more media, and the media is
consuming more of people’s time. News has become a 24-hour
process as audiences consume news from more sources.
(Quinn and Lamble 2008: 8)
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Of the most common multimedia that has today become a veritable tool for journalists is
Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR). This explains the importance of computer to the reporting
job of journalists. The rate of use of CAR in media work has relegated the use of telephone as a
medium of news gathering labeled as telephone assisted reporting. Professor Philip Meyer,
author of “Precision Journalism” takes the credit for the introduction of CAR that has proved to
be the most significant human development since Gutenberg’s invention of moveable type of
printing press in the middle of the fifteenth century (Quinn 2001).
As the media use of CAR developed, the three stages became relevant and applicable to media
work. According to Quinn and Lamble (2008: 2), the basic CAR takes care of e-mail, reading list
serves, reading discussion lists, using simple search tools, directories, copy and paste from Web,
reading e-magazine and e-journal, bookmark and management. The intermediate level of CAR
takes care of precision use of search tools, advanced and Boolean searches, downloading
spreadsheets, assembling simple sheets and smashups. The advanced state of CAR known as
Deep or Investigative CAR is applicable to creating and analyzing spreadsheet from raw data,
creating and analyzing database from raw data, merging relational databases and geographic
information systems (GIS mapping).
Media mogul, Rupert Murdoch once described what is happening in the media industry as
revolution.
What is happening is a revolution in the way young people are
assessing news. They don’t want to rely on the morning papers for
their up-to- date information. Instead they want their news on
demand when it works for them. They want control over their
media, instead of being controlled by it. (Murdoch 2005).
What the internet promotes in the media industry is to say the least a revolution. Writers today
spend valuable time writing on the Internet without pressure of deadline. Apart from its
promotion of freedom of expression, it has the benefit of a wider reach to the audience who also
exercise their freedom of choice.
The revolution is not limited to only Europe, America and other developed nations. The
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multimedia revolution had its toll on both the developing and underdeveloped nations of the
world. The case of Nigerian might readily come as an example. The nation’s broadcast media
regulatory body, the National Broadcasting Commission in explaining its role said:
the Nigerian broadcasting shall essentially match the best in
profession anywhere in the world yet be distinctly Nigerian,
projecting the best and rejecting the worst…and to achieve it a
60/40 local and foreign program ratio was recommended for all
broadcast stations in the country. (NBC 2002)
Despite the regulation, recent studies have shown that foreign media through satellite stations are
gradually taking over the elite audience while a few still patronize the local media stations.
Ojebode (2004) observed that:
One of the impacts is that the foreign stations set agenda and
standard…..because globalization has to do with liberalizing
assess to media products across the nations of the world. It is the
process of internalization of the mass media so that media
products of a nation are received by citizens of other nations on
the globe even without the approval of or control by their
government ….the satellite and the internet have brought this to
reality.
In recent years, the website has provided opportunities to Nigerians with the creation of scores of
sites aimed as a medium of exchange of opinions and for promotion of the Nigerian nation. The
sites include: www.naijacommunity.com, www.gamji.com, www.arewa-online.com,
www.nigeriaworld.com, and www.nigeriavillagesquare.com. Unconfirmed information said each
of the website play host to over 50,000 browsers daily.
EFFECTS OF MULTIMEDIA
The introduction of CAR into media especially in the use of Internet has come with its load of
criticisms. Critics have argued that the Internet (to some extent) has reduced the worth and
values of journalists as non-professionals use Internet facilities to publish without any recur to
editors or their medium to publish. This undoubtedly has gradually eroded journalism profession,
gradually bringing it to the brink of extinction. The net is bombarded with all sought of
unprofessional and unethical write ups from those who arrogate themselves as experts without
due reference to media professionals. That must have encouraged the widened debate for social,
professional media suffers.
Another shortfall of the use of Internet is the fragmentation of media audience. The Internet has
created several avenues for sourcing, collation and assessment of information. People get their
news and information from different sources at different times of the day. Quinn and Lamble
(2008:3) wondered how journalists would be able to cope with the fragmentation. They submit
that “re-aggregating and re-gathering of splintered audience would require new skills”, and
advised that a convergence system of media practice might be the answer.
He suggested a convergence system where editorial staff work together to produce multiple
platform for the audience. The application is that a single newsroom would produce news items
for newspapers, radio and television. But the snag according to Quinn and Lamble (ibid) is that
the running of a convergence newsroom is costly and difficult to manage because reporters
would still be needed to produce the original multimedia materials. Also a convergence
newsroom negates the spirit of freedom of expression under which the press and the new
information operates.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NIGERIAN MEDIA
The history of Nigeria media cannot be complete without a mention of Africans who returned to
Nigeria after years of slavery in America and Europe and the early missionaries who were
determined to evangelize an environment that Dare (2000) described as a “dark Continent”. The
returnees’ passion for development led personalities like Rev. Henry Townsend, a British
Missionary of the Anglican Church and Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowder, the progenitor of Yoruba
history, tradition and race, to settle in a sprawling city of Abeokuta for the purpose of making the
lives of the inhabitants better through evangelization.
As a way of supporting the ministry, reading and writing were promoted and the encouragement
received from the enthusiastic public led Rev. Townsend to establish Iwe Iroyin Yoruba in 1859
that later became the first newspaper in Nigeria. Despite the fact that the newspaper was
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established with missionary spirit the quality and the robustness of its editorial policy became a
cause for worry by the British Colonial Officer, who according to Omu (1978:8) complained that
the newspaper was “aggravating problems of foreign policy” that has come to the level of
“recklessness and irresponsibility”, and thereby cautioned it to exercise restraint.
Iwe Iroyin thrived for only eight years before the civil strife that led to the abandonment of its
premises and the expulsion of foreign missionaries in 1867. Dare (2000) observed that the
closing down of Iwe Irohin led to the birth of “radical press” established by educated Africans
especially those from the Crown colony of Lagos.
From 1864 to 1937 more than 51 newspapers have been established in Nigeria. The pioneering
effort of the Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Obafemi Awolowo led to the birth of modern media in
Nigeria. Some of the publications include: “The Lagos Times” by Richard Beale Blaize;
“Observer” by Benjamin Blackall; “The Eagle” and “Lagos Critics” by Owen Emerick
Marcaulay, grandson of Bishop Ajayi Crowder; “The Conservative Nigerian” Pioneer by Kitoye
Ajasa; “African Messenger” by Ernest Sessei Ikoli; “West African Pilot” and “Daily Comet” by
Nnamdi Azikwe; and “The Nigerian Tribune” by Obafemi Awolowo. Other newspapers are
“Gaskiya Ta fi kobo”, “Nigerian Outlook” and “Daily Service”. Omu (1978:69) posited that the
press provided “the most distinguished intellectual forum in Nigerian history….because the high
standard of debate and discussion cannot fail to fascinate the modern reader”.
The coming of the Daily Times in 1926 introduced a new dimension into media profession in
Nigeria. While the early newspapers were designed “to arouse the consciousness among the
people, exposing the petty tyrannies, inefficiencies and mistakes of the British officials”
(Enahoro, 1961:73), the Daily Times pledged in its maiden editorial to help “bring this young
promising country into its proper place within the imperial brotherhood” (Jose, 1987:9).
The Daily Times gave birth to host of other newspapers, magazines and media agencies such as
“The Guardian”, “Punch”, “This Day”, and other state owned and regional media. The
modernization of the Daily Times newsroom and the elevated status of its employees have since
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been improved upon by the newly established media houses to justify the challenges of the
Internet age.
CHALLENGES TO MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM IN NIGERIA
The proficient use of multimedia journalism in Nigeria has to a large extent suffered major
challenges. Adeniji (2011) in his newspaper article on “Empowering Newsmen for Modern
Journalism Practice” captured a few. First is the lack of a mastery and skill in the use of
multimedia tools by Nigerian journalists. Journalists who are not proficient in the use of these
multimedia tools in this day and age of highly involving technology stand the risk of being
”irrelevant” in modern journalism practice. It is expected that practicing journalists be able to
host a website or blog (as the case may be), as well as regularly unload stories as they are
published either in the newspapers, magazine, broadcast on television or the radio as that is
actually the crust of e-reporting.
Secondly, journalism schools in Nigeria do not imbibe e-learning as much as it is required in
their curriculum; therefore students graduate without acquiring the adequate skill needed to
enable them be E-reporters. In Adeniyi’s exact words:
Computers, news media and the internet have been features of
newsrooms for close to two decades while journalism schools are
still grappling with teaching students basic computer skills. This
creates a disconnect between the two-journalism schools do not
produce labour with the requisite skills for the media.
Thirdly, is the issue of poor electricity supply in Nigeria. As a result, internet connectivity are
not stable and this makes it a frustrating experience for journalists to update their blogs and
websites as often as it is required as well as consult resource materials via the internet. However,
the invention of some technological devices such as the Ipad and mobile phones with internet
facilities like the Blackberry’s have cushioned the impact of the lack of constant electric supply
to a reasonable extent as journalist can constantly be connected to the internet. None-the-less,
these devices cost huge sums of money and cannot be afforded by the average Nigerian
journalist.
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The assumption upon which this research is based was predicated on opinions of media scholars
and professionals that the practice of journalism in Nigeria since the adaptation of technological
equipments is at the crossroad. Critics argued that the revolution in the media industry since the
launching of Telster 1 in 1962 has changed the face of journalism practice in developing
countries especially Nigeria, thereby the call for a re-appraisal.
They proffer argument that the media in developing countries are in short supply of the needed
technological equipment that could make journalism practice meet up with the level in developed
nations of the world. Nworah, Uche (2005) posits that:
any such attempt at rubbing shoulders with the Western media
stops just with the internet sites some Nigerian media organization
have managed to set up. As other facilities and resources are still
largely unavailable to Nigerian journalists, for example, company
sponsored laptop computers with mobile internet access, digital
recording devises, open assess mobile telephone, plus salaries that
take into consideration global trend, market prices and national
inflation rates.
The research attempts to investigate the basis for the assumption by posing four major research
questions:
RQ1: How adequate is internet facilities in the newsrooms of media houses in Nigeria?
RQ2: What percentage of staff in Nigerian media houses are internet compliant?
RQ3: What is the percentage of Internet time deployed to news gathering daily?
RQ4: How often are editorial staffs of media houses sponsored on internet related courses?
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
H1: Internet facility is not very adequate in media house in Nigeria.
H2: Staff of media houses in Nigeria are internet compliant.
H3: Internet services are inadequately deployed to news in newsroom in
Nigeria.
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H4: Editorial staff of the media houses in Nigeria are sparingly sponsored
for internet related courses.
METHODOLOGY
There are about a hundred and fifty (150) standard newsrooms in Nigeria. However, this study
was conducted using thirty newsrooms (20% of the 150 newsrooms) which were randomly
selected. The following newspaper newsrooms were selected: Champion, Punch, This Day, Sun,
Tribune, New Nigeria, Guardian, Vanguard, Nation, Daily Trust, Compass, Observer,
Leadership, Daily Post, Pilot etc.
Through purposive sampling technique, a sample size of 100 journalists was selected from a total
population of 500 journalists who work in the newsrooms of the selected newspapers, all of
which were interview prior to the study. This purposive selection was based on the following
qualifications: professionalism, knowledge of the research topic, connectivity to the internet and
use of ICT at work, and a minimum of three years (3yrs) work experience in print or electronic
media. The questionnaire data gathering instrument was used in this study. In other to…