1.1 Introduction
Online News are news posted on the internet on either newspapers’ websites or bloggers webpage and other social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and Twitter. According to Obaid (2014), Newspapers are the textbooks that provide up to date information on local, state, national and world affairs, the most current analysis and criticism of the executive and legislative decision making, television, fine arts and even column and comics to make readers laugh (Obaid, 2014). Today, newspapers joined other mass media to also deliver their contents digitally. But as readers rush to online content, it is possible that conventional print newspapers may suffer a decline in readership (Aliagan, 2011).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Over the years, the Internet (international network or inter-network) is the only form of contemporary communication that provides access to all individuals on the planet in a very quick, effective, and efficient way. Joseph (2021) pointed out that in order to access the internet, you must a gadget as well as an internet connection. With each passing day, there are more and more devices available for internet connectivity. We may now use our smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs to access the internet in addition to desktop and laptop computers (Joseph, 2021).
In 2019, the number of internet users worldwide stood at 3.97 billion, which means that more than half of the global population is currently connected to the world wide web. But while the digital population is visibly growing in many parts of the world, internet access and availability can differ significantly depending on the region. As of the first quarter of 2021, China was ranked first among the countries with the most internet users. China had 854 million internet users, more than double the amount of third-ranked United States with just over 313 million internet users. Nigeria is now in 6th position worldwide with 126.8 million (Joseph, 2021).
The growing number of internet users is one of the factors responsible for media convergence i.e reading, viewing and watching news online practicable. For instance, the number of internet users in Nigeria has further increased to 93.4 million, according to a new report on Internet status in the country. The report obtained by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Meanwhile, with the growth of the Internet, access to newspaper online became partially possible, this development has in no small way affected hardcopy newspapers and its circulation volumes. It should be recalled that newspaper can be seen as a set of large printed sheets of paper containing news, articles, advertisement etc. and published every day or every week and become stale the next day when new copy emerged. Sequel to the above notion, it could be safely said that online news are the publications of print media (Newspapers) that are made available on the internet which can be easily globally.
Today, almost all print media organizations are now migrated online to post the softcopy of their hard copy news with lots of traffics and adverts, it helps them to reduce cost of production and circulation and helps in competing with broadcast media as they can update it any time as news breaks while it also offers them the opportunity to reedit their copy after publishing which can never be possible in hardcopy. However, as a result of this development, lots of undergraduates and unemployed graduates have turn online news into business by creating their news blogs, in fact, this phenomenon has made almost everybody a journalist “citizen journalist”. Similarly, one of the common activities on the internet is news reading or watching either on newspapers website or through bloggers including watching live and podcast news video on video-tube (Youtube), vloggers (video bloggers) on their computer, and smartphone.
In a recent research conducted by Laittos Multimedia and Research Institute-LMRI (2019) revealed that one of the reasons for online news popularity is because it is cheap and convenient comparing to purchase of a copy of newspaper everyday at N200 which become stale after some minute as new events breaks every hours (LMRI, 2019).
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the influence of online news on hardcopy newspaper patronage.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that there are decline in newspaper buying and reading habits among people in Nigeria. Media exposure in Africa is often collective with many users crowding round television or sharing a single newspaper. This practice is common in Nigeria, with the prevalence of the free readers’ club where people pay a token to read as many newspapers as they wished or borrowing from kin, workmate and peers (A Survey by the World Bank in 2002).
Adeniran (2015) posits in his findings that large copies of newspapers are sold during national trending event such as election, new government policies e.g budget, appointment of top federal government cabinet, unusual such as mass death etc. However, Wikipedia records that in 2007 there were 6,580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a day.
The late 2000s to early 2010s global recession, combined with the rapid growth of web-based alternatives, caused a serious decline in advertising and circulation of newspapers, as many papers closed or sharply retrenched operations. It is against this background that the research investigates the influence of online news on hardcopy newspaper patronage in Nigeria.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to investigate the Influence of Online News on Hardcopy Newspaper Patronage in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To examine the extent at which students of International Institute of Journalism, Port Harcourt are using online news; and
- To understand some of the factors that is responsible for students’ choice between hardcopy and online news.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- To what extent does students of International Institute of Journalism, Port Harcourt is using online news?
- What are some of the factors that are responsible for students’ choice between hardcopy and online news?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There are no significant factors that are responsible for students’ choice between hardcopy and online news
- H1: There are significant factors that are responsible for students’ choice between hardcopy and online news
1.7 Significance of Study
The outcome of this research will be significant to the following stakeholders:
- Media Houses / Practitioner: The study affords newspaper organizations the opportunity to work out modalities with a view to know what type of information people are seeking online and how to meet this gratification.
- Public: It exposes more people to the existence of online news especially how to determine credible sources. This will turn to boost the awareness and facilitate the patronage of online news especially among undergraduates.
- Government/NBC: Government through its various agencies such as NBC, BON among other see more reasons and techniques on how to regulate the online bloggers to prevent hate word and spreading propaganda that can mislead people.
- Researcher: Future researchers and students will find the material relevant as it will form bulk literature that exist in the field of mass communication, journalism and digital communication etc that they can lay hands on when carrying out research related or similar to this.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Influence of Online News on Hardcopy Newspaper Patronage in Nigeria. This research will cover only the Students of International Institute of Journalism, Port Harcourt in Rivers State.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, there were some problems encountered which stood as limitations to the research work. Some of the limitations include:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this research work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
- Initial Cooperation Delay from Respondents: A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.
1.10 Operational Definition of the Terms
The following terms would be defined in relation to the research work.
Online News:
These are the news posted on the internet on either newspapers’ websites or bloggers webpage and other social media platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and Twitter etc.
Hardcopy Newspapers:
These are the printed copy of the newspaper otherwise called hardcopy which are circulated from place to play through van, tricycle, vendors etc
Newspaper Patronage:
It is the art of buying or reading news either the printed or softcopy online by the students International Institute of Journalism, Port Harcourt.
