1.1 Introduction
Journalism is a new effort in reporting in which professional communicators use social research method together and vividly present information to the target audience. Similarly, journalism is the collection, preparation and distribution of News and related commentary and feature materials through such media as pamphlet, News letter, magazines, radio, motion pictures, television, Bill Boards the internet and Books.
Print media as one of mass communication areas is a device for delivering information thought, knowledge, ideas and attitudes of mass communication students towards print journalism, it is of great important to streamline students attitude in order to know if it is positive or negative. In recent year, Media houses in the Western countries lack trained journalist in the various communication activities. Invariably, it has been the same in Nigeria and this could be seen in most cases of the media houses in Nigeria.
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 questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
In the beginning was the word and the word was with communication without which community life will be meaningless Eyutchae (2002, p. 8) perhaps, that analogue to a passage in the Greek historical literature aptly expresses the characteristics of mass communication process. It illustrates the very genesis of what through technological advancement came to be known as the press.
In the case of this a random survey of the student's attitude will also be discovered from this survey. Tracing history, one can rightly discover the treatment being meted on journalists in Nigeria, particularly during military regimes when many journalists were either killed or locked up in the jail of unknown reasons.
Mass communication systems are as old as the world itself and existed even in primitive societies. The use of modern of communication in the so called civilized world is merely an outgrowth of the basic symbols of expression tonal, gestures, or symbolic. The history of the print journalism is characterized by political, social, economic and technological developments that have changed the shape of the newspapers, magazines and books in the final analysis.
History made us to understand that the earliest written words were made with the Egyptian papyrus called hieroglyphic writing however, some historians said that printing paper was invented by the Chinese and spread to the Arabs in 751, a Moslem army in central Asia captured some Chinese among whom were a number of paper makers. Those pioneers were brought to Samarkand where they established a paper factory.
A German industrialist by name Johann Gutenberg invited printing press and introduced movable type to the western world. Gutenberg cast his type in soft material rather than carving it in wood blocks. He borrowed an idea from wine making and built the ink onto the paper.
Print journalism can be traced back to Julius Caesar when he introduced the earliest newspaper ACTA Diurnal, which he started in ancient Rome, forty four years before the advent of Christianity. William Caxton introduced the printing press in Great Britain in 1487 and established a profitable London printing company.
After the invention of printing, the urge to have a mass circulated newspaper came as more book went into print, people were encouraged to learn how to read. As literacy grew, people became curious and realized that knowledge of economic conditions and commercial information from other towns and countries could be beneficial to their own efforts. Publication sprang up across Europe to meet these needs. However, there are also some reservations and challenges preventing full adoption of social media for lecturer-student engagement, such as differing opinions about social media’s role in the higher education environment and the rather informal nature of social media (Draskovic et al., 2013; Madge et al., 2009).
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Students’ Attitudes toward Print Journalism in Mass Communication.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that Print journalism is an important field of mass communication. It is one media that has evolved over the years especially with technological advancement in the communication industry. Print journalism cannot be said to be encouraging.
There is an indication showing that almost all mass communication students in the nation's institutions of higher learning want to specialize in public relations and advertising or electronic media.
An insignificant few want to specialize in print journalism; some of them are said to b leaving the profession in search for better pay, quiet and less controversial jobs. For instance, during the military regimes in Nigeria, many journalists were either killed or locked up in jail for unknown reasons.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to evaluate the Students’ Attitudes Toward Print Journalism in Mass Communication using Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri (FPNO) as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To determine whether mass communication students have positive or negative attitude towards print journalism;
- To determine whether government harassment of practicing journalists affects the student's attitude towards print journalism.
- To find out the students view towards remuneration in print media; and
- To make recommendations based on the findings of the study.
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:
- Do mass communication students have positive or negative attitude towards print journalism?
- Has government harassment of practicing print journalists affected the attitude of students towards?
- Has remuneration in print media any relationship to the student's attitude?
- What do you understand by Print journalism?
- What can be done to change these perceptions?
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: Mass communication students have negative attitude towards print journalism
- H1: Mass communication students have positive attitude towards print journalism
1.7 Significance of Study
This study is useful to fresh students who may be in dilemma of what areas of mass communication to major. It will also be useful to teachers and indeed to all who wishes to study or carryout research in mass communication, as it affects students' attitude.
It will also go a long way in helping the students to decide on which aspect to major in, through the administration of questionnaire to practicing journalist in various branches of mass communication. This research will also proffer some solutions to salient questions in the activities of curriculum planners.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Evaluation of Students’ Attitudes Toward Print Journalism in Mass Communication using Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri (FPNO) as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- 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.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- 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).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Attitude
Conceptual Meaning: This is the way that you think about something: the way that you behave towards somebody or something that shows how you think and feel.
Operational Meaning: The opinions and feelings that you usually have about something.
Mass Communication
Conceptual Meaning: This is the process in which professional communicators use the mass media to disseminate messages widely rapidly and continuously to arouse intended meanings in large and diverse audience in attempt to influence them in a variety of ways.
Operational Meaning: Mass Communication is the study of how individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segment of the population at the same time.
Journalism
Conceptual Meaning: The work of collecting and writing news stories for news papers, magazines, radio or television.
Operational meaning: Journalism is gathering, processing, and dissemination of news and information related to the news to an audience.
Print
Conceptual Meaning: To provide letters pictures etc. on a paper using a machine that puts ink on the surface.
Operational Meaning: This is the use of newspaper, magazines and books in communicating message to its target audience.
