Public Perception of Citizen Journalism as an Alternative to Mainstream Media in Nigeria

Abstract

Citizen journalism has gained global attention. Daily, it has become more popular within the global media industry. Our focus in this paper was to establish the perception of the Nigerian public, using the chosen population, about this brand of journalism, which heightened in the country during the 2020 lockdown caused by Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the popularity of citizen journalism, this study, anchored on the Democratic Participant Theory and the Social Responsibility Theory, set out to establish whether this brand of journalism is in any way a threat to the mainstream media. Another objective was to examine whether, based on its obvious public acceptability, citizen journalism can become an alternative to the traditional journalism. Then, based on various opinions by scholars, the study also sought to establish how the professional media can collaborate to maximise and utilise the potentials of citizen journalism. Applying the qualitative method, the sample, purposively chosen, comprised 30 interviewees from the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. The outcome, which reflects views from these zones, is that though Nigerians have sustained attraction to citizen journalism, it cannot replace neither is it a threat to the mainstream media. This study demands further findings on the specific slant and depth of collaboration that can help tame the excesses of citizen journalism.