Impact Of Internet Journalism In West Africa Media Essay

Impact Of Internet Journalism In West Africa Media EssayCommunication studies, according to Wikipedia(2011),is anacademic fieldthat deals with the processes ofcommunication commonly defined as the sharing ofsymbolsover distances in space and time. Hence, a communication study encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversationto speeches to mass media outlets such astelevision broadcasting. Communication studies, as a discipline, be also often interested in how audiences interpret study and the political, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of speech and language in context. Journalism is one of the branches of communication studies which have to do with proper or in depth investigating and reporting of events and issues to a large (broad) audience.Journalism permitardised other discipline is guided by rough ethics the idea behind journalism is to accurately inform the masses or citizenry on an event or issue that concerns them. According to Wikipedia (2011), in modern society, news media has become the chief purveyor of entropy and opinion close general affairs plainly the role and status of journalism, along with other forms of mass media, are undergoing changes resulting from the Internet, especially Web 2.0.Still on the Wikipedia (2011), the Internet carries a vast range of randomness resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail.Most traditional communications media including telephone, music, film, and television are reshaped or redefined by the Internet, giving birth to new services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and IPTV. Newspaper, book and other print publishing are adapting to Web site technology, or are reshaped into blogging and web feeds.Although, network journalism was practiced by some journalists which made little or no impress on the audience, simply the September 11 attack on t he US world trade centre brought it to limelight. Thus, this made net profit journalism the most in force(p) in the communication industries.According to Allan (2002), Journalism after September 11 examines how the traumatic attacks of that day embrace to transform the nature of journalism, particularly in the unite States and Britain. In Nigeria, it brings together an internationally respected assembly of scholars and media commentators to explore journalisms present and future by engaging with such pressing issues as trauma, free speech, censorship, patriotism, rectitude and celebrity.Journalism after September 11raises vitally important questions regarding what journalism can and should look like today. In providing answers, it addresses topics such as journalism and public life at a time of crisis the role of sources in shaping the news reporting by global news media, such as CNN on-line(prenominal) affairs broadcasting news photography and trauma the emotional well-being of reporters as well as a host of pertinent issues around news, state and citizenship.In her article, Bunz (2009), verbalize journalists are coming to terms with the net changing the way they look into, organise their workflow and distribute their content. The biggest publications all over Europe have, for example, twitter channels, led by the UK with nearly 70% and followed by nearly 40% in the Netherlands. 35% use blogs to research stories and 13.5% even have their own free-living blog.In Nigeria, Some media organizations have already established a strong presence in the lucre. For example, The Guardian Newspapers (www.ngrguardiannews.com), The Thisday Newspaper group (www.thisdayonline.com), The Independent Newspaper group (www.independentng.com), New Age Newspaper (www.newage-online.com) and so on have continued to be veritable sources of news and information to both Nigerians at home and abroad.However, the further and spread of internet network in Nigeria are still no t in comparable to that of the developed countries. The unstable state of the internet in Nigeria is other great challenge facing the masses which makes it difficult for an total Nigerian to log in the above websites in search of news.The Nigeria internet providers like mtn, glo, celtel, starcomm etc continue to primary(prenominal)tain or work on their net to make sure they satisfy their customers in terms of making it more efficient and faster. Though these internet providers work austere to maintain their network, it can be said that they are not there yet. With this inefficiency in the internet, the journalists allow find it difficult to communicate through. few people who can afford a laptop or computer will be reluctant to pay their monthly subscription from the internet providers, then an come Nigerian who pay an exorbitant kernel in a cyber cafe for an airtime to browse the internet will be disappointed because of the slow or discrimination of the network. The media w ere and are still facing a lot of challenges which will definitely take years to overcome.In his book, Agbese (2006), said the commonest forms of communication technologies in the 1990s were telefax machine, pagers, personal computer and Telephone. These technologies helped with communication and harvest-timeion. However these technologies were not readily available to e reallyone in Nigerian media houses. Most times only top staffs and owners had portal to or owned form of communication technology. In the early to mid-1990s, computers were not available to all members of the staff. Most media had just one computer which only the typist had entre to, to effect stories for the publication.Lately, according to Nworah (2011), it can be said therefore that the Nigerian media are measuring up with their counterparts in other parts of the world by maintaining strategic presence on the information super highway. But any such attempt at rubbing shoulders with the western media stops ju st with the internet sites which some Nigerian media organisations 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 devices, open access mobile telephones and salaries that take into consideration global trends, market prices and national inflation rates. Again, for internet journalism to sway or be successful in Nigeria, the concepts of the popularised FAN (free readers association of Nigeria) need to be eradicated. The acronym is used to refer to the practice where people cluster around newsprint vendors stand to read newspapers and magazines without actually buying any one. This in a sense show or reflect the socio-economic situation which an average Nigerian finds himself or herself into. An average Nigerian cannot afford a laptop and going to the cyber cafe to pay for an air time to listen or read news amidst the huge amo unt paid for the air time and the inconsistency of the internet is unthinkable. This in a large extent affects internet journalism among the media organization in Nigeria.Nworah (2011), also opined that The way out of indifference among the Nigerian masses is largely compounded by the fact that Nigerian upgraders have not yet started taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the internet, to advertise their products and services in the websites of some of these media organisations, only a few advertisers are doing this at the moment, it was hoped that such advertisements may actually increase to a height so that the free news now readily available on the internet can be subscribed for and also to make up for the shortfall from the hard copy sales.Nevertheless, the advent of internet may permit readers to log on to the websites and then freely read any newspaper or magazine of their choice, but this obviously will have a huge negative impact on revenues as less hard copies will be bought and the great lost will be on the media organization. The fear definitely deters media organization from using internet journalism as the lost from hard copy will negatively affect them.Looking at the way internet journalism has affected communication and the masses of the developing ground like Nigeria, can this be said of other countries in West Africa? This research proposal will explore the impact of internet journalism so far in Nigeria and the effects on the media organizations and the masses.RESEARCH AIMThe aim of this research proposal is to evaluate the effects and impacts of internet journalism in West Africa, thus using Nigeria as the country to be studied.RESEARCH QUESTIONSThis research proposal will base its questions on the followingHow effective has internet journalism proven among the journalists in Nigeria?What impacts have internet journalism on the masses (audience) of Nigeria?Has the non stability of internet helped the Nigerian journalists in a ccessing stories efficiently?How often an average Nigerian does has access to the internet?RESEARCH possibleness(a)(i).This research will consider the null that Internet journalism has proven effective among the journalists in Nigeria.(a)(ii).The alternative hypothesis is that the internet journalism has not proven effective among the journalists in Nigeria.(b)(i).This research will consider the null that the internet journalism has impacts on the masses (audience) of Nigeria.(b)(ii).The alternative hypothesis is that the internet journalism has no impacts on the masses (audience) of Nigeria.(c)(i).The research will consider the null that the non stability of the internet has not helped the journalists to access stories efficiently.(c)(ii).The alternative hypothesis is that the non stability of the internet has helped the journalists to access stories efficiently.(d)(i).The research will consider the null that an average Nigerian does not have access to the internet.(d)(ii).The alt ernative hypothesis is that an average Nigerian does have access to the internet.DeliverablesAs it has been described in the objectives of the research project, the main purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects and impacts of internet journalism in Nigeria, West Africa. The final product of this research project will be a report, containing the effects of Internet Journalism in Nigeria, West Africa.Research MethodologyDifferent 150 internet news readers in Nigeria will be approached to collect the data. There are two kinds of data.Primary dataSecondary dataPrimary data includes the information from the respondents. This also includes responses by the diverse age groups and geographical locations in the country. Secondary data will tell about the impact of Internet journalism in Nigeria. To collect the data, diverse newspaper companies will be contacted. Similarly, to assess the changes in internet journalism, their website users views will also be found out.The tools to co llect this data will be the surveys. For this, website users and newspaper customers will be interviewed, where as to live the views of customers, different questionnaires will be prepared to ask them different questions.To analyze the collected data, different statistical techniques will be used.ResourcesThe most important thing to carry out any research project is to know the background, research objectives, and research methodology of the research project. For this literature is searched out. The University Library will be the primary source to look into the literature. Books in hard and soft form will be obtained from the library. Similarly, different research journals and articles in the library will be valuable assets to prepare a comprehensive research report.To prepare the questionnaires, surveys done by the newspaper companies to know views of customers, will be used. Similarly new questionnaires, depending on the situation, will also be prepared.Project PlanThe project is separate into three stages.Literature reassessmentInterviews of newspaper customersReport writingLiterature ReviewTo carry out any research project, a research must be able to review the literature. This makes researcher aware of work, done by other people in the respective field. The main source of literature is the journals, in which different researchers publish their findings of problems.Interviews of newspaper customersIn order to know the effects and impacts of internet journalism in Nigeria, West Africa, the users of different newspaper websites will be interviewed. They will be asked about the positive and negative points of internet journalism. Similarly, customer views will be taken through the interviews. Considering all these views, suggestion to improve the internet journalism will be advised.Report writingThe final product of the research project will be a written report. The structure of my report will be divided in following categories,IntroductionIn the introduc tion, history of internet journalism will be discussed and how different newspapers implement internet journalism will be discussed.Aims and objectivesIn this part of report, purpose of the research project will be stated very clearly what are the aims of the study and what are the problems, which will be discussed in the report.Research methodologyThis is the core part of the report. After stating the problem, different research methodologies will be explained to gather the data. The primary source will be the interviews of the customers and internet news readers. From these interviews, impact of internet journalism in Nigeria, West Africa will be assessed. The questions asked to customers will be provided in the appendix of report.ConclusionsAfter describing the problems and research methods, suggestion will be advised to eliminate or solve the highlighted problems.RiskIn order to carry out any research project, it is very important to study all the aspects of the project. i of t he main aspects regarding any project is the risks involved. There are also some risks involved, regarding the research project under consideration. One risk can be privacy. Newspaper companies employees can be duty-bound and show reluctance to give information about their websites.Impact and Beneficiaries of ResearchThe main objective of this research activity is to investigate the effects and impacts of internet journalism in Nigeria, West Africa. This research can be very helpful for the information sector