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STUDENTS AWARENESS, ACCESSIBILITY AND PATRONAGE OF ONLINE NEWS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The aim of this research paper is to examine students’ awareness, accessibility and patronage of online news. Reading from online newspaper is on the increase as technology is more advanced to the extent that students can access news online using their personal computer, Smartphone, GPRS mobile phone, tablet computer, iPad and others. Survey research method was adopted coupled with 150 copies of questionnaire were administered to the respondents that were selected. Frequency and percentage method of data analysis was used to analyze data. Findings show that soon there will be less printed newspapers in circulation as more readers now prefer online news to print copy. It is also evident that larger percentage of the respondents visit online for news regularly. The research recommends that print media should be more diversify and integrate new media into their operations in this era of media convergence while mass communication, journalism and media disciplines should make digital journalism part of its curriculum.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1        Background of the study

The Internet continues to evolve into a major news source. The internet which is the worldwide system of interconnected computers makes use of telecommunication resources. It is defined by Aina (2003), Hanson (2005) as a network made up of large number of computers throughout the whole world. The computers in the network communicate and share data with one another. The internet with all its capabilities have changed the way we live, learn and work. It permits us to communicate more with people around the world, regardless of location and distance, thus making it a global village. Anyone who has followed the Internet industry over the last decade might have seen an amazing series of events. The transformation brought about by the internet in the area of the mass media is enormous. One of those areas is the newspaper industry. The internet has completely changed the face of the printing industry and newspapers have taken the lead. Today, people do not have to wait for 24 hours for newspapers to update them of happenings around the world as newspapers now have ‘breaking news’ which was an exclusive of the broadcast industry. People do not have to wait until the vendor(s) deliver the newsprint before knowing what is happening in the dailies. On a typical day, more than 50 million Americans obtain news from the Web (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2006). The Newspaper Association of American (NAA, 2006) reports that 112 million people visited online news sites during the first quarter of 2006. Nearly one-quarter (24%) of Americans say the Internet is their main source of news,

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