COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND RADIO STATIONS PREFERENCE FOR ASSESSING NEWS AMONG YOUTHS

CHAPTER ONE

1.0       Introduction

1.1       Background of the Study

More than a century ago, communication between countries involved physical presence. Once, a reporter had to run as fast as possible back to the newsroom after interviewing and tried to beat the competition to print. With the advent of the digital age the role of the journalist changed.

The inception of information communication technology such as the internet has made it possible to find out about events without actually being there. Journalists can report news across the world over the internet.

Throughout history, developments in technology and communication have gone hand-in-hand, and the latest technological developments such as the internet have resulted in the advancement of the science of communication to a new level. The process of human communication has evolved over the years, with many path-breaking inventions and discoveries heralding revolutions. The invention of pictographs or the first written communication in the ancient world brought about written communication. These writings were on stones, and remained immovable.

The invention of paper, papyrus and wax, culminating in the invention of the printing press in the 15th century made possible transfer of documents from one place to another, allowing for uniformity of languages over long distances. Lawal, A.T. (2005). The latest revolution is the widespread application of electronic technology such as electronic waves and signals to communicate, manifesting in the electronic creation and transfer of documents over the World Wide Web (www.wikipediacom)

Social media which are forms of electronic communication have become the highest activity on the internet. They refer to social networking websites developed to specifically to help people share their views and stay in touch with their friends, relatives and well- wishers.

The site was popular for a while but it suffered from technical difficulties and fake profiles and began losing members. Some of those members went to MySpace, which had actually started  in 1999 but became better known in 2003.Its roots are a little muddy because it received financial and logistical support from another company called e-Universe, and most of the early users were e-Universe employees but Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe are given credit for much of the innovations and success of the site which built up to 115 million users worldwide. Members post bios, photos, blogs, videos, and other things that strike their fancy, and some TV programmes to air on MySpace. In 2005, Rupert Murdoch?s News Corporation (parent of Fox Broadcasting) bought MySpace for 580 million dollars.

Similarly, Twitter is an online social networking service and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters, known as “tweets”. Olayinka, S. O. (2014)

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Social media have certainly changed the way journalists work, how stories are developed and disseminated. Social media or online journalism places far more power in the hands of the users allowing the reader to challenge the traditional role of information dissemination. Traditional media have been forced to adopt the new media from wider reach and accessibility. To this end, the research is geared towards comparing social media and radio stations on the assessment of NEWS.

1.3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The major aim of the study is to compare social media and radio station preference of youths in assessing news in Nigeria. other objectives of the study include;

1. To examine the need for easy access to news in Nigeria.
2. To determine the major factors that influence the preference of youth in terms of assessing news.
3. To study the major challenges of assessing news through radio and social media respectively.
4. To examine the significant difference between social media and radio stations preference for assessing news among youths in Nigeria.

1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the need for easy access to news in Nigeria?
2. What are the major factors that influence the preference of youth in terms of assessing news?
3. What are the major challenges of assessing news through radio and social media respectively?
4. What is the significant difference between social media and radio stations preference for assessing news among youths in Nigeria?

1.5. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: There is no significant difference between social media and radio stations preference in assessing news among youths in Nigeria.

H1: There is significant difference between social media and radio stations preference in assessing news among youths in Nigeria.

1.6. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study would greatly benefit students, researchers and scholars who are o9ntersted in developing further studies on the subject matter as it would be a source of recent literatures for future research.

1.7. SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study is restricted to the comparative study of social media and radio stations preferences for assessing news among youths in Nigeria using the University of Lagos as the case study.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.