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Newsmaking Cultures in Africa pp 337–356Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

‘We Cannot Bite the Finger that Feeds Us’: Journalists’ Dilemmas and the Appropriation of ‘Alternative’ Media in Nigerian Print Newsrooms

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Abstract

This chapter employs an ethnographic approach in interrogating how journalists in Nigerian print newsrooms appropriate new media technologies and ‘alternative’ media content in their everyday newsmaking practices. Situated within the theoretical field of the sociology of journalism, the chapter argues that a sociological approach remains useful for exploring the processes of appropriating new media technologies in Nigerian print newsrooms. It provides a brief discussion of the media liberalisation process in Nigeria and offers a justification for the continued relevance of ethnographic newsrooms studies. Focusing on four privately owned newspapers, the chapter finds that although journalists in these newsrooms appropriate new media technologies and ‘alternative’ media content in their newsmaking practices, these approaches remain fraught with a number of contradictions. While the (disruptive) impact of these technologies on the newsmaking practices of Nigerian print journalists cannot necessarily be ignored, this chapter finds that several contextual factors impact on how these appropriations take place.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    There were indications that on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th June 2014 the Nigerian government had confiscated and destroyed copies of about four national newspapers scheduled for distribution across some cities in the country and including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The media felt they were targets of the military because they had exposed the military’s inability to rescue the over 200 girls abducted in Chibok, Borno State. See: http://www.punchng.com/news/gratuitous-military-sss-assault-on-the-press/.

  2. 2.

    LASTMA is the acronym for Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, set up by the Lagos State government to control traffic congestion. By virtue of their job of controlling traffic and issuing fines to offenders, LASTMA officials are not necessarily the favourites of many commuters in Lagos and they have been attacked on occasion http://www.punchng.com/metro-plus/thugs-motorists-attack-lastma-officials-in-lagos/ More on LASTMA here: http://www.lastma.gov.ng/.

  3. 3.

    ThisDay is another privately owned newspaper in Nigeria.

  4. 4.

    The news text published on the Vanguard’s website on 2 April 2011 had the headline ‘Today’s Election: What is happening in your area?’ More can be found here: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/04/today%E2%80%99s-election-what%E2%80%99s-happening-in-your-area/ [Accessed November 20, 2011].

  5. 5.

    Yoruba is one of the major languages spoken in Nigeria.

  6. 6.

    A number of media owners in Nigeria are notorious for owing journalists salaries. A report published by Premium Times on 7 July 2015 told of how members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists besieged the premises of ThisDay newspaper because journalists had been owed salaries for nine months. More on this report here: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/186261-journalists-protest-against-thisday-over-non-payment-of-salaries.html [Accessed 17 November 2017].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana

    Motilola Olufenwa Akinfemisoye

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  1. Motilola Olufenwa Akinfemisoye
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Writing and Journalism, Falmouth University, Penryn, United Kingdom

    Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara

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Akinfemisoye, M.O. (2018). ‘We Cannot Bite the Finger that Feeds Us’: Journalists’ Dilemmas and the Appropriation of ‘Alternative’ Media in Nigerian Print Newsrooms. In: Mabweazara, H. (eds) Newsmaking Cultures in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54109-3_16

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