Citizen Journalism in a Digital Age: An assessment of Content Generation and Audience Perception
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Date
2018-06-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Mass Communication, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
Abstract
Apart from availing the audience with varieties of media contents from which to gratify his needs, the digital age has contributed immensely to the emergence and development of citizen journalism. This has liberalized the practice of the profession from the practices in the rule-governed mainstream media that differentiate professionals from quacks. Although many studies have confirmed the quintessential role of the mainstream media in setting agenda for public discourse, not much attention has been paid to examining how contents of citizen journalism stir up discussions among the audience. This quantitative study evaluated perception of audience about the contents reported by citizen journalists, within the context of the public sphere. Data were gathered through the use of questionnaire. The study revealed that even though audiences do not consider the contents posted online by citizen journalists as much credible, they still reply on them for their daily information needs. The study also revealed that the respondents do not perceive citizen journalists as meeting ethical standard common with trained journalists. Based on its findings, the study enjoyed trained mass communication graduates to embrace citizen journalism given it informational roles to the society.
Description
The digital revolution contributes to citizens' journalistic adventure, bringing about liberalisation of the media space.
Keywords
Citizen Journalism, Content generation, Digital age, Audience perception, Public sphere
Citation
Abdulbaqi, S. S., Mustapha, L. K. & Olawoyin, M. (2018). Citizen Journalism in a Digital Age: An assessment of Content Generation and Audience Perception. Ilorin Journal of Sociology,10 (1),145-160.