INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON AUDIENCE PERCEPTION ABOUT CONTEMPORARY JOURNALISM PRACTICE. A STUDY OF WARRI RESIDENTS

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INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON AUDIENCE PERCEPTION ABOUT CONTEMPORARY JOURNALISM PRACTICE. A STUDY OF WARRI RESIDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

News can be interpreted as some kind of information that is of importance to another individual (Hughes 1981), and is something that people have come into contact with at some point in their lives (Barker 2012). Historically, language and gestures have been methods employed by our ancestors to convey information to one another, an imagination-instructing communication system (Jahlone et al 2012), so in some sense they are the precursors to modern news broadcasting means. Though they do in fact remain as methods of passing on news and information, it is increasingly evident, even among those with minimal contact with technology, that the formats with which news is passed has developed considerably throughout history, and will continue to develop long into the future. Indeed, as news and communication have evolved, they have tended to do so via technology.

Defining newspapers as the oldest constituent of modern media (Boczkowski 2004) it is easy to underline their importance in the history of communication, being considered one of the original models of information conveyance (e.g. in 1994 there are over 1,400 newspapers representing a $55 billion industry) (McQuail 1994).

By the nineteenth century, and complimented by further technological advancements in printing and telegraphic communication, as well as huge advancements in speedy and effective transportation, news was more accessible than ever before. As Muhlmann wrote, “the newspaper ceased to be simply a forum for the expression of diverse opinions and became a source of news […] gathered by people who began to call themselves reporters” (2008: 1). For press agencies, this notion of reporting would come to be central to journalistic identity, and in turn set journalism on its route to the professional identity and influence it has enjoyed for most of the last two centuries (Muhlmann 2008).

Traditionally, journalists have utilised status and power to reinforce society’s perception of the merits of professional journalism: “I share with thousands of others in journalism a sense of mission that I have seen in only two other professions. One of them is teaching and the other is the ministry” (Sigelman 1973: 105). And yet, recently journalists have had to deal with a certain level of infringement on such status and power, and it may have changed their role forever.

The emergence of new media technologies in recent years has changed the face of journalism practice. “Each new development in the world of journalism seems to change the way the consumers receive their information and each new development in journalism lead to a decline in one form of media consumption and a spike in consumption of another form” [1]. “Journalism is experiencing considerable changes linked to social, cultural, economic, and technological transformations” [2]. Social media is an extension of Right to Freedom of expression in a virtual world. Social media has brought new characteristics like interactive dialog and social interaction which can be used by the Journalists for real conversations with their audience [2]. “In the 2017 Global Social Journalism Study, 75 percent of journalists describe social media as completely or to a large extent necessary to promote and distribute content“ [3]. News organizations have also started adopting social networks for sharing news and information with the decline of circulation of print copies of newspapers.

Take into consideration of the changed structure of journalism practices with the influence of social media the current work was intended. The basic intention of this chapter was to find out the usage pattern of social media and find answer to the research question that whether social for journalists is interference or professional development.

Social media

Social media has been defined from various perspectives. A range of interpretations can be found in the area. Some of the prominent ones have been mentioned below:

Technopedia [4] in nutshell refers social media to be an umbrella term for various internet based applications which lends end users the ability to create contents and mutual interaction.

University College London views social media as a technology that affords ‘social scalability’. It argues that traditional media was divided into two parts: (a) public broadcasting for large group and (b) private communications for small groups which has been bridged by the social media. The social media bridge over the public and private media has created media sociality lending an element of scalability for information dissemination among the largest and smallest group [5].

Encyclopedia Britannica [6] has defined social media as technologies, platforms, and services that enable individuals to engage in communication from one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many. Kaplan and Haenlein [7] in their most cited work view social media as a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content.

On the other hand, Carr and Hayes [8] defines social media from a technological perspective as Internet-based, disentrained, and persistent channels of mass personal communication facilitating perceptions of interactions among users, deriving value primarily from user-generated content. McCay-Peet and Quan-Haase opines that social media are web-based services that allow individuals, communities, and organizations to collaborate, connect, interact, and build community by enabling them to create, co-create, modifies, share, and engage with user-generated content that is easily accessible [9]. Burgess, Marwick and Poell have defined social media as digital platforms, services and apps built around the convergence of content sharing, public communication, and interpersonal connection [10]. Miller et al. argues that social media should not be seen primarily as the platforms upon which people post, but rather as the contents that are posted on these platforms. On the other hand, Hopkins views Social media as computer-mediated communication software that enable users to create, share and view content in publicly networked one-to-one, one-to-many, and/or many-to-many communications

Statement of the problem

The advent of social media have had a significant disruption on the media of conveying news, on news worthiness and news rating. There is an avalanche of news blogs and media on the internet, and this have had a strong and significant effect on media in general. There is a trending discuss on how social media influences perception of audience about contemporary journalism.

Objectives of the study
To understand the influence of social media on audience perception of contemporary journalism.
To understand the relationship between social media and audience perception of contemporary journalism.

Research questions
What is the influence of social media on audience perception of contemporary journalism.
What is the relationship between social media and audience perception of contemporary journalism.

Research hypothesis
H0: There is no relationship between social media and audience perception of contemporary journalism.