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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background of the study

Experts in the nation‘s media and marketing communication industries at a forum organized by the Advertising Agencies‘ Association of Nigeria, (AAAN), in 2010 in Lagos, raised alarm on the future of newspaper in Nigeria. Majority of the participants concluded that unless the print media braced up to the challenges posed by the new media, it might go extinct in the nearest future. This apprehension was no doubt a fall-out of the report which portrayed an alarming slide in the patronage of newspaper. According to the 2010 study carried out by the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) across the country, the daily sales figure of all the newspapers was less that 300,000, meaning that only one in every 470 Nigerians buy newspapers daily (Ekeng, 2010). Putting this reality in proper perspective, Popoola (2010) said that all the newspapers in Nigeria today have combined circulation figure that is far less than 500,000 copies per day when compared to 1980 when the population of Nigeria was about half of what it is today. Presently the stockpile of unsold copies of newspapers and magazines in the circulation departments of most print media organizations is a vivid sign of this challenge.

Ekeng (2010), disclosed that The Punch as the number one selling national daily only circulates 34, 264 copies, The Sun was ranked third with 25, 632 unit sales. Vanguard got 25, 241, while Guardian and Thisday came 5th and 6th xii respectively, with 25, 222 and 21, 703 daily sales. Daily Trust, the most popular newspaper up North has 11, 672 daily unit sales. Tribune, the oldest surviving newspaper in Nigeria, was another surprise, managing only 8, 314 daily sales. The above mentioned dailies constitute what is known as the top 8 in the standing. The others combined, including Compass, Daily Independent, Leadership, National Life, New Nigerian, Mirror and Westerner, could barely rake up 1,600 daily sales. The question then should be, why the alarming slide in the patronage of newspaper? This is very important as a wrong diagnosis will invariably lead to an inappropriate treatment. Ekeng (2010) noted that circulation decline is a global phenomenon as the newspaper industry in America, Europe and even Asia are also affected. This, he said, is primarily due to the impact of the Internet, which guarantees quick news for free. Topping the list of all the causes is the crashing local economy, which has greatly reduced the purchasing power of most Nigerians. Of recent, fast developing technology has been fuelling an information revolution. The new media, digital broadcasting and the internet are sweeping away the limitations of the analogue world and weakening the grip of government-owned platforms. The nature of the relationship between the broadcaster and its audience is changing.

New media in this information age provides an immediate, informative, intelligent, interactive platform for discussion and debate. New media is essentially a cyber-culture with modern computer technology, digital data controlled by software and the latest fast developing communication technology. Most technologies described as “new media” are digital, and often have characteristics of being networkable, dense, compressible, interactive and impartial. Examples are the internet, websites, computer multimedia, games, CD-ROMs and DVDs. Young people are attracted to the easy means of getting information with internet based terminals or hand phones which provide them information of their choice anytime, anywhere. They need not have to wait for any broadcasting schedule to be connected to get the information. Internet blogs, news portals and online news, Facebook, You Tube, podcast and webcast, and even the short messaging system (SMS), are all new media. The modern revolution enables

1.2      STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is difficult to think of a more important institution in our democratic society than the news media. This research has been instituted to determine the influence of online news on the traditional newspaper patronage among university community. NAN is a wire service which in no small measure has helped in equipping media outfits to judiciously accomplish their primary objective which is to inform, educate and entertain the teeming audience through the comprehensive reports disseminated within and beyond the confines of media outfits existing in its geographical boundary. Its mandate to deliver and disseminate information and news to subscribers first before any other medium is gradually being eroded by the emergence of the new media. Similarly, the agency’s resource base is gradually going down because most of its `would- be’ subscribers are now addicted to the internet for their news. As a result of the prohibitive expenses in stationing journalists around the world to source for news, local news media rely on NAN for such news. The emergence of online journalism has also encouraged amateur reporting. Many media organizations, blogs, websites in a quest to be the first to broadcast news, give some information without confirmation. However, this research will examine the influence of online news reportage on the traditional newspaper patronage among university community in Ibadan.

1.3      OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study is to ascertain the influence of online news on the traditional newspaper patronage among university community in Ibadan. But to aid the successful completion of the study, the researcher intends to achieve the following specific objective;

i)             To ascertain the effect of online reporting on traditional newspaper patronage

ii)           To examine the impact of online news reading on the sales volume of traditional newspaper

iii)          To examine the relationship between online news patronage and sales volume of traditional newspaper

iv)         To examine the role of news outlet in improving the sales volume of traditional newspaper.

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

To aid the successful completion of the study, the following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher;

H0: online reportage does not have any significant effect on traditional newspaper patronage in the university community

H1: online reportage does have a significant effect on traditional newspaper patronage in the university community

H02: there is no significant relationship between online news patronage and the sales volume of traditional newspapers among university community in Ibadan

H2: there is a significant relationship between online news patronage and the sales volume of traditional newspapers among university community in Ibadan

1.5      SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of great importance to the management of news outlet (old media) as the findings will help them in strategy formulation in other to enhance thiers sales volume in the study area, the study will also be of great importance to online news outlet as the findings of the study will help them improve on the quality of online reporting, due to the teaming nature of their consumers, the study will also be useful to researchers and students who intends to embark on a study in a similar topic as the study will serve as a reference point to further studies. Finally, the study will be beneficial to academia’s teachers, lecturers and the general public as the study will add to the pool of existing literature.

1.6      SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the studies covers the influence of online news on the traditional newspaper patronage among university community in Ibadan. In the cause of the study, there were some factors which militate against the scope of the study;

a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study 

b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.

c) Organizational privacy: Limited Access to the selected auditing firm makes it difficult to get all the necessary and required information concerning the activities

1.7 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Patronage

Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another

Online news

An online newspaper is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical.

Newspaper

Newspapers can cover wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport and art and often include materials such as opinion columns, weather forecasts, reviews of local services, obituaries, birth notices, crosswords, editorial cartoons, comic strips, and advice columns.

1.9 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows

Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), historical background, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlights the theoretical framework on which the study is based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.  Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study

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