Digital Media: Changes in the News Production and Journalistic Practices in Nigeria

This research contributes to the study of the journalism by analysing the changes in journalistic practice and news production as a result of digital media and the implications thereof. I critically analyse the role of digital media on news production and journalistic practices and argue that the rise of digital media has significantly changed the roles, practices and structures of the journalistic profession in Nigeria. I also argue that these changes require a practice centred approach to explore changes in perceptions of identity and journalistic labour; attitude towards multi-skilling, working conditions of journalists and the commercialisation of news which have the potential to compromise journalistic performance and the news they produce. A proposed combined approach of Pierre Bourdieu’s Field theory and Howard Becker’s Social Worlds was used. I support Dickinson’s argument that the meso-level analysis offered by field research requires the micro-level analysis of the news world to present a “socially situated, empirically grounded and contextually located” analysis of journalists’ adoption/appropriation of media technologies. To this end, the combined approach provides a more rounded understanding of journalism and news production in Nigeria by presenting a contextual understanding of the socio-cultural and political economic context that shape to the changes that are occurring in the newsrooms in Nigeria. Empirical evidence is drawn from five media organisations in Nigeria (Guardian newspapers, ThisDay, Vanguard, Channels TV and Nigeria Television Authority) to examine these from the perception of journalists. It also argues that the adoption of particular technologies is “socially and culturally determined” and understanding these nuances would contribute to the broader debates on news production and journalism.