TABLES OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
Fly Leaf
Title Page – – – – – – – i
Certification – – – – – – – ii
Dedication – – – – – – – iii
Acknowledgements – – – – – – iv
Table of Contents – – – – – – vi
List of Tables – – – – – – – ix
List of Appendices – – – – – – x
Abstract – – – – – – – – xi
- INTRODUCTION – – – – – 1
- Background of the Study – – – – – 1
- Statement of the Study – – – – – 5
- Objectives of the Study – – – – – 5
- Research Questions – – – – – – 6
- Scope of the Study – – – – – – 7
- Significance of the Study – – – – – 7
- Limitations of the Study – – – – – 7
- Definition of Terms – – – – – – 8
- REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
- The Concept of Citizen Reportage – – – – 10
- The Role of Citizen reportage – – – – – 11
- Criticism of Citizen Reportage – – – – – 12
- Citizen Involvement in Emergence Reporting – – 13
- The Impact of Citizen Reportage – – – – 14
- Concepts of News – – – – – – 16
- History of News Source – – – – – – 17
- Elements of News – – – – – – – 22
- Concept of Credibility – – – – – – 25
- Media Credibility – – – – – – – 26
- Media Credibility Measures – – – – – 29
- Theoretical Framework – – – – – – 34
- Uses and Gratifications Theory – – – – – 34
- Applicability of Uses and Gratification Theory – – 35
- Social Categories Theory – – – – – 35
- Review of Study – – – – – – – 37
- The Concept of Citizen Reportage – – – – 10
- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY – – – – 42
- Research Design – – – – – – – 42
- Population of the Study – – – – – – 42
- Sample and Sampling Procedure – – – – 42
- Instrument for Data Collection – – – – 43
- Validity and Reliability – – – – – – 43
- Method of Data Presentation and Analysis – – – 44
- DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
- Data Presentation and Analysis – – – – 45
- Discussion of Findings – – – – – – 56
- SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
- Summary – – – – – – – – 59
- Conclusions – – – – – – – 60
- Recommendations – – – – – – – 60
References
Appendix/Appendices
ABSTRACT
The study was on “Citizen reportage and news credibility among residents of Etim Ekpo Local Government Area”. In carrying out this research, certain objectives to achieve the purpose of this work were formulated. The objectives among others sought to find out the media/medium which the citizens of Etim Ekpo Local Government Area has access to for news of national interest which is more credible. This study used a survey research design and the population of the study was 56,286. The census and accidental sampling procedure was adopted to draw a sample of 300 for the study. A questionnaire was also used to collect data for analysis. The theories used in this study were uses and gratification theory and social categories theory. The findings of the study among others showed that the residents of Etim Ekpo are exposed to citizen reportage and news credibility. Among the recommendations of this study were that, government should set out policies to enable the internet service providers (ISP) or telecommunications companies to lower their internet service charges in order to increase access to their services. Also, that news sources should improve their news content and make it more credible.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the Study
Citizen reporters assemble complex information so others can make informed decisions about their lives and community. Tension, however, has existed over citizens’ participatory and editorial-control levels, because news construction and dissemination have been the primary duty of professionally trained and skilled reporters in recent history (Flanagin & Metzger, 2010).
Reportage involves the gathering, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, reporting news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest, for dissemination (Free Flow of Information Act of 2007, 2007). Several academics and professional organizations claim that high-quality reporters protect the public from consuming misinformation by adhering to journalistic ethical guidelines when producing their content, and there is concern that individual content creators may not abide by such high principles. People who produce and share content, but do not do so as a representative of a legacy news organization are often referred to as citizen reportage.