INFLUENCE OF MEDIA CREDIBILITY ON NEWS CONSUMPTION AMONG CIVIL SERVANTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

 The mass media are tools for mass communication saddled with the responsibilities to inform, educate and entertain members of the society. It is through the mass media that the society gets to know what is happening within and outside the country to enable them react accordingly. One of the ways to carry out these responsibilities is by disseminating information to vast heterogeneous audience thorough broadcast news by radio and television.

The mass media ought to play the role of gathering, analyzing and disseminating news and information about people, events and issues in society which could be in form of news, commentaries, editorials, advertorials, news analysis, profiles, columns, cartoons, pictures or magazine feature via mass communication medium such as radio, television news papers, magazine, digital TV, facebook, you tube, 2go and other numerous social media to a heterogeneous audience simultaneously or about the same time” Ogunkwo (1999) in Suntai and Vakkai (2014). But reverse is the case in Nigerian Journalism practice as the issues of news commercialization has prompted the mass media to tilt away from objectivity and balance in reporting. The media be it broadcast or print have lost their credibility as they have slowly negate the social responsibility of journalism to an income generated journalism practice.

As Asogwa & Asemah (2012) put it: There is an increasing commercialization of the media in Nigeria, the situation that has brought the integrity of the mass media enterprise to question. The social responsibility theory holds that while the press functions as a free enterprise, as guaranteed by the libertarian theory, it must be responsible to a society in which it operates. Based on this theory, the mass media are able to raise issues of public importance. Our mass media today do not seem to perform this social, duty as issues that set agenda for national development are compromised for “naira and kobo”. This abuse at practice has received the attention of mass communication scholars and other stakeholders who now advocate for a reinvention of our media contents to make the media realize their potentials as tools for national development.

Onoja (2009) sees news commercialization as “a situation whereby stations begin to raise revenue by charging fees for news reports they should normally carry free”. This implies that, broadcast stations are meant to package and produce news free rather than commercializing it for profit making and gain.

Chioma (2013) sees news commercialization “as a tactful strategy through which the media relegates its responsibility of surveying the society”. Johnson (2001, p. 2), cited in Okigbo (1997) argues that balancing the cost of high quality journalism against corporate profit is one of the significant changes in journalism practice today. By implication broadcast media are meant to serve the public by dishing out news and entertainment rather than selling news and entertainment for profit making. As Kenneth and Odorume (2015) put it, “the broadcast media organizations should exist to serve public interest. However, recent journalism practice in Nigeria seems to be plagued with the malady of news commercialization. What this portends is that only the rich will get their ideas communicated to the public thus relegating the common to the background. Media organizations are undeniably expected to protect the public interest of their audiences.”

McManus (2009 Pp. 219 & 220), sees news commercialization as ‘any action intended to boost profit that interferes with a journalist’s or news organization’s best effort to maximize public understanding of those issues and events that shape the community they claim to serve’.

Also, Nwodu (2006) in National Open University of Nigeria (nd p.28) describes news commercialization as “the deliberate presentation of sponsored information to unsuspecting media audience who perceive these information as conventional public interest-oriented news”.

Against this backdrop news commercialization could be a packaged, produced and disseminated information by a sponsor who pays a media organization. It could also be message/information/idea/thoughts payed for by an unidentified sponsor whose idea is trumpeted via a media organization to a large heterogeneous audience in order to influence or modify their thinking. This act of commercializing news by journalist and media organization, greatly affects the objectivity and balance of reporting as Ekeanyanwu and Obianigwe (2012, p. 517) put it “monetary gifts could pressurize a journalist into doing what the giver wants, and this makes the journalist unable to be objective in his reporting of events and issues involving the people who give such gifts.

Thus, the news stories produced are likened be commercial products that have been paid for by the customer which should serve the need to which the product is expected, in favor of the customer” Asogwa & Asemah (2012) say “there are many reasons for which media outfits are established; some ideally set up the media to perform social functions of reflecting society and setting agenda for national discourse; others show more interest on generating income; hence, the media are profit oriented. In Nigeria, the latter may be a strong factor, given that media content is considered a commodity for sale, just like other commodities in a capitalist environment”

This implies that a journalist who sells his conscience for money with the justification that it is news commercialization will end up deterring his reportage to suit the buyer of his conscience. “He who pays the piper dictates the tune” comes to play here. News commercialization is therefore liken to a wheel while brown envelop journalism is the spook that enhances the wheel to thrive on.

That is why Ekerikevwe (2009), sees brown envelope as the commonest practice in journalism in Nigeria. “It is a situation whereby journalists demand for bribe or other forms of gratification before they cover any events or even publish stories from such events”. The implication of brown , envelope causes huge threat to journalism practice Bello & Adejola (2010) elaborates that this implications ranges from “loss of public trust and confidence, loss of professional integrity and sense of duty and inability to uphold the six cardinal elements or canons of journalism – truth, fairness, objectivity, accuracy, independence and responsibility”

In a nutshell, the stand point on news commercialization is that, news commercialization is a paid, non-personal form of communication by unidentified sponsor who projects his/her ideas, thoughts, intentions through mass media such as print, radio, television and the internet. Therefore, to Idowu (2001 p.4), for news to be useful it has to be credible, for it to be trusted it must measure up to some exacting standard of assessment such as: accuracy (when in doubt leave out), balance (reflect all sides of the story), fairness (impartiality to all parties involved), human angle (people minded), depth (well researched/investigated), presentation (telling the story rightly), and reward (be of social relevance to audience)

News is regarded as an account of current issues and events which are considered to be of social significance and public interest. This definition stems from the fact that news is all about and concerned with what the audience should be interested to know.

The entire process of gathering, sorting, processing and disseminating news requires both educational and technical skills along with ethical judgment which journalists must possess. In line with this, Adaja (2012) opines that journalism is concerned with the gathering, processing and dissemination of information regarded as important and critical to the operations of the different components of the society.

Udomisor and Kenneth (2012) observe that the mass media are tools for mass communication which have unique responsibilities to inform, educate and entertain members of the society and that through the mass media the society gets to know what is happening within and around the country and react accordingly. News reporting is actually an avenue through which society keep abreast with important occurrences within and outside the country.

However, “news is no longer about reporting timely occurrences or events, it is now about packaged broadcast, or reports sponsored or paid for by interested parties.” (Omenugha and Oji, 2008 p.14). In recent times news has become commercialized with the slogan: „Let Them Pay‟ (LTP) which many if not all broadcast stations and in fact all media organizations are adopting till date.

News commercialization has become a major trend in news treatment globally, and an issue of ethical concern in the mass media. It is a thoughtful approach adopted through which the media relegates its responsibility of surveying the society – disseminating information on the event, and people of social interest aside for financial gains.

1.2 Statement of Problem

The birth of news commercialization has not only affected the level of ethical standards in journalism practice, but it has also tilted news towards one direction: to meet the interest of those who pay for the news. This has in turn affected the quality of news reports and credibility of journalists and the news content itself. The implication is that Nigerians no longer trust what they hear or see in the broadcast media.

The commercialization phenomenon posed a lot of challenges to the credibility of the news stories reported by journalists because stories of events are usually arranged to suit their sponsors. Usually, the stories “add nothing tangible to the quality of life of the people” and “there is nothing journalistically newsworthy about them” (Oso, 2012).

As Kenneth and Odorume (2015) put it, “the broadcast media organizations should exist to serve public interest. However, recent journalism practice in Nigeria seems to be plagued with the malady of news commercialization. What this portends is that only the rich will get their ideas communicated to the public thus relegating the common to the background. Media organizations are undeniably expected to protect the public interest of their audiences.”

A lot of studies have been carried out on journalists‟ perception of news commercialization. For instance, Oberiri (2016) carried out a study on “Journalists‟ Perception of News Commercialization and its implication on Media Credibility in Nigeria.” His focus was on Journalists in Jalingo Metropolis. He examined the extent to which news commercialization influences objectivity, fairness, balance and truth in reporting. No study has yet looked at it from the audience‟s view. It is against this backdrop that this research work seeks to find out the views of the audience about the credibility of news content since they are the receivers of the news contents.

1.3 Objectives Of Study

The objectives of this study include:

i.                   To find out how the audience in Osogbo metropolis view broadcast news contents.

ii.                 To ascertain the views of the audience on the credibility of broadcast news contents.

iii.              To determine how news commercialization influences credibility of broadcast news.

iv.              To establish whose interest broadcast news content portrays the most.

1.4  Research Questions

          i.            How does the audience in Osogbo metropolis view broadcast news contents.

       ii.            What are the views of the audience in Osogbo metropolis on the credibility of broadcast news contents?

     iii.            How does news commercialization influence credibility of broadcast news?

     iv.            Whose interest does broadcast news contents portray the most?