CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

     Background of the Study

 

A century and half ago, communication between countries involved physical presence. Once, a reporter had to run as fast as possible back to the newsroom after interviewing and tried to beat the competition to print. With the advent of the digital age the role of the journalist changed. The inception of information communication technology such as the internet has made it possible to find out about events without actually being there. Journalists can report news across the world over the internet.

Throughout history, developments in technology and communication have gone hand- in-hand, and the latest technological developments such as the internet have resulted in the advancement of the science of communication to a new level. The process of human communication has evolved over the years, with many path- breaking inventions and discoveries heralding revolutions. The invention of pictographs or the first written communication in the ancient world brought about written communication. These writings were on stone, and remained immobile. The invention of paper, papyrus and wax, culminating in the invention of the printing press in the 15^th century made possible transfer of documents from one place to another, allowing for uniformity of languages over long distances. The latest revolution is the widespread application of electronic technology such as electronic waves and signals to communication, manifesting in the electronic creation and transfer of documents over the World Wide Web (www.wikipediathefreeencyclopedia.com)

 

Social media which are a form of electronic communication have become the highest activity on the internet. They refer to social networking websites developed to specifically

 

help people share their views and stay in touch with their friends, relatives and well- wishers.According to Wikipedia, social media represents a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information content which brought about the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers.Social media are also internet sites where people interact freely, sharing and discussing information about each other and their lives, using a multi-media mix of personal words, pictures, videos and audio (Bruce and Douglas; 2008, p.27). In order to broaden our knowledge on the topic of study, a brief history of social media will be discussed below.

In the early 1990s, chat rooms and bulletin boards were forms of social media; in that they helped people connect with others and share interests.A little later,dating sites hooked together those looking for partners, and Classmate.com.let people connect with people they had known in high school and college.In the early 2000s, a site called Friendster was set up where people invited their friends to join and in turn, those friends invited other friends.The site was popular for a while but it suffered from technical difficulties and fake profiles and began losing members.Some of those members went to MySpace,which had actually started in 1999 but became better known in 2003.Its roots are a little muddy because it received financial and logistical support from another company called eUniverse, and most of the early users were eUniverse employees but Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe are given credit for much of the innovations and success of the site which built up to 115 million users worldwide. Members post bios, photos, blogs, videos, and other things that strike their fancy, and some TV programmes to air on MySpace. In 2005, Rupert Murdoch‟s News Corporation (parent of Fox Broadcasting) bought MySpace for 580 million dollars.

A competitor to MySpace, Facebook was started in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg while he was a student at Harvard University; it grew up rapidly about 2007. At first Facebook was solely for college and high school students, but Zuckerberg opened it to everyone and like

 

MySpace, it encourages all types of member postings (Lynn Gross, 2010). Apart from the above mentioned social media tools,there are also others. These include; Twitter, YouTube, BlackBerry Messenger, Flickr, Word Press, Blogger, Badoo, Live Journal, Wikipedia, Type Pad, Second Life, Lulu, and many others. All these social media appear in many forms including blogs and microblogs, forums, and message boards, social networks, wikis, virtual worlds, social bookmarking, tagging and news, writing communities, digital storytelling and scrapbooking, data, content, image, video sharing, podcast portals and collective intelligence.

Journalism on the other hand is the deliberate and conscious efforts to gather information, collating and analyzing data for the purpose of informing, educating, and entertaining the people with a view of making an appropriate decision (Qasim Akinreti; 2007). Journalism is also an investigation and reporting events, issues and trends to a large audience. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience about topics ranging from government and business organizations to cultural  aspects of society such as arts and entertainment. The field of journalism include; editing, photojournalism and documentary (www.Wikipediathefreeencyclopedia.com).

     Statement of the Problem

 

The impact of social media in today‟s world of communication, especially journalism cannot be over-looked. Since its arrival social media have certainly changed the way journalists work, how stories are developed and disseminated. Social media have had positive impacts, without doubt, but there are also concerns about their impact on productivity and the disruption it could have on journalists‟ working patterns. Social media have created a dependency among those working in the media and many are unable to do without them.

Social media have become journalistic lexicon and it seems sourcing information has overtaken self-promotion as a primary social activity. While journalists are growing more

 

sophisticated in their use of social media, and are for instance, using a great variety of tools to source for news, some journalists are less positive about some of the ways social media affect their journalistic activities, their engagement with their audience, their productivity and the quality of their work. Based on these contrasting views, the question this research seeks to answer is; how have social media affected news reporting by correspondent in Maiduguri metropolis with regards to their journalistic duties?

     Objectives of the Study

     The main objective of this study is on The study of social media in news reporting by correspondent in Maiduguri

 

The study had the following objectives:

 

1. To know if journalists in Maiduguri metropolis are exposed to social media networking tools.
2. To find out the type of social media tools journalists in Maiduguri metropolis

 

3. To determine whether social media have enhanced the productivity of journalists in Maiduguri

     Research Questions

 

1. To what extent are journalists in Maiduguri metropolis exposed to social media networking tools?
2. What type of social media tool do journalists in Maiduguri metropolis prefer?

 

3. How have social media enhanced the productivity of journalists in Maiduguri metropolis?

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On the heels of Nigeria’s recent Twitter ban, this report examined he effect of  twitter ban on journalism practices and freedom of expression in Nigeria. The study used media and legal papers to get the views of government officials, religious leaders, industry experts, international organizations, legal experts, and IT-based business professionals on the ban. The results were very interesting, too. Journalists rights to freedom of speech, access, and information exchange have been violated by the Twitter ban, it has been revealed. It was found that the restriction had had such a negative impact on the economy that it had impeded the flow of information among business colleagues, resulting in job losses, sparked hostility amongst investors, and led to the demise of several companies. Twitter has been found to be a viable source of income for many citizens, as well as a tool for boosting the country’s economy, and the government should reconsider its position and give users access.

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Effect of pornographic films on cultural attitude of Nigerian students

CHAPTER ONE/Background of the Study

This study “Impact of Pornographic Materials on Youths” aims at identifying the influence of pornographic materials on the youth, with particular emphasis on the youths in University of Nigeria Nsukka. The study will help to ascertain whether pornographic materials have adverse effect on the moral behaviour of youths. However, this study will be narrowed down to pornographic films only.

In view of the foregoing, films began in the minds of people who came long before the film pioneers themselves. The attempt to capture and recreate motion can be traced to when civilization began. The cave drawing which showed a horse with eight legs, the fleeting arrow from a hunter‟s bow and even carefully detailed drawing of kings with one foot outstretched suggest motion.

Bittner (1989) said that history is somewhat not clear as to who deserved the glory of inventing still motion pictures, but that William Dickson and Thomas Edison were associated with the efforts to create motion pictures.

The earliest forms of pornographic films were seen in France during the 1920s. The development in France brought about fun and all sorts of condemnation from the public. For instance, Dellu cinema owner and also French man said that the exhibition of such pornographic films contributed to melancholy, fatal condition, social and other negative attitudes among the people.

Down here in Nigeria, pornographic films started pervading our country in the late 1960s and became more rampant in the 1970s. Today, pornographic films have become so prevalent that access to them is easy.

“Film, according to Black African greatest film producer Ousmene Senibene is tool or communicator of social change and culture.” He went further to stress that “a film is but a driving belt, a vehicle that conveys an idea and by this we will see that communication and ideas help people make their own decisions about the environment they live in.

Film as a genre of mass communication is therefore, associated with the enormous influence of the mass media. To buttress this, Walter Lippman (1922, p. 588), also said that the media do not only tell the people what to think, but what to think about. That is to say the media shape the picture in our heads. There is no consensus of opinion on the power of the media to propagate sexual abuse, crime, violence etc, among youths by way of projecting such message to them.

The stand which one takes on this issue depends on individual perception towards the controversial topic. But the aim of this research is to investigate this issue scientifically keeping emotion aloof, that is, to find out if there is any relationship between youth exposure to media portrayals of pornographic and sexual perversion among the youth.

 Statement of the problem

Undoubtedly, social scientists who are interested in the study of mass media particularly film effects have been involved in the efforts to find out the relationship

between media and anti-social behaviour like crime, violence, sexual behaviour perversion, abuse and rape. There has been series of research works which show that audio-visual media can be described as an all powerful, all pervasive and all manipulative medium capable of producing the most effective emotional reaction through the portrayal of pornography, violence and other immoral acts.

This project is geared towards ascertaining if sexual crimes, perversion and abuse among the youths could be attributed to their exposure to pornographic films. Therefore, in which way can the viewing of pornographic materials be stopped?

Objectives of the study

This study is aimed at the following:

1. To find out the reasons why youths watch pornographic films.
2. To assess the extent youths practice behaviors acquired from viewing pornographic film.
3. To make suggestions and recommendations on what can be done to stem the viewing of pornographic materials.

Research questions

1. What are the reasons why youths watch pornographic films?
2. To    what   extent   do   youths   practise    behaviours    acquired   from    viewing pornographic films?
3. Should the Nigerian government ban pornographic films because of its negative influence on the youths?

Scope of the Study

This study is limited to youths in University of Nigeria Nsukka. But since the characteristics of youths are generally similar in many ways, the findings of the study would therefore be generalized to include all youths in Enugu.

Significance of the study

This study will be of great benefit to Nigerian students in the tertiary level. This study will be of significance to the students because it will help them to know the effects of pornographic films.

Furthermore, it will be of benefit to both governments because it will help the government to understand ways in which they can control and eradicate this social vice.

    Operational definition of terms

The variables for this study, “Impact of Pornographic Materials on Youths” are operationally defined as follows:

The Impact Operationally Defined

The operational definition of impact as the powerful effect that something has on somebody.

Pornographic Materials Operational Defined

The operational definition of pornographic materials are films that are made solely for sexual arousal and featuring nudity and explicit sexual acts.

Youths Operational Defined

The operational definition of youths is the time of life when a person is young having the characteristics of the young.

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