Abstract
Media technologies have been celebrated as powerful tools for journalistic practices. The emergence of the Internet, mobile phones and social media platforms as part of an essential toolkit for journalists has signalled a significant shift in news production processes. This exploratory study examines how and if Nigerian journalists are exploiting the potential of these technologies to domesticate international news. The study focuses on the coverage of a single multilayered story, the outbreak of Ebola in four West African countries in 2014. Using a combination of research methodologies—quantitative and qualitative analysis of media texts and semi-structured interviews with journalists—the study examines how media technologies were exploited to domesticate the coverage of the Ebola outbreak as an international story. It concludes that while these technologies offer journalists opportunities to broaden their professional capacities, they are yet to transform newsroom practices.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Akinfemisoye, Motilola Olufenwa. 2014. Negotiating Convergence “Alternative” Journalism and Institutional Practices of Nigerian Journalists. Digital Journalism 2 (1): 62–76.
Alasuutari, Perti, Ali Qadir, and Karin Creutz. 2013. The Domestication of Foreign News: News Stories Related to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution in British, Finnish and Pakistani Newspapers. Media, Culture & Society 35 (6): 692–707.
Boseley, Sarah. 2014. Nigeria’s Ebola Crackdown is an Example to the World. The Guardian. October 20. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/20/nigeria-ebola-crackdown-example-to-world. Accessed 10 Mar 2014.
Clausen, Lisbeth. 2004. Localizing the Global: ‘Domestication’ Processes in International News Production. Media, Culture & Society 26 (1): 25–44.
Cooper, Charlie. 2014. Ebola Outbreak: Nowhere Is Safe Until Virus Is Contained in Africa, Claims the Top Doctor Who Beat It in Nigeria. The Independent. October 21. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ebola-outbreak-nowhere-is-safe-until-virus-is-contained-in-africa-claims-the-top-doctor-who-beat-it-9809235.html. Accessed 10 Mar 2016.
Deuze, Mark. 1999. Journalism and the Web, an Analysis of Skills and Standards in an Online Environment. International Communication Gazette 61 (5): 373–390.
———. 2003. The Web and Its Journalisms: Considering the Consequences of Different Types of Newsmedia Online. News Media & Society 5 (2): 203–230.
Ette, Mercy. 2012. Nigeria as a Country of Interest in Terrorism’: Newspaper Framing of Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Underwear Bomber. Journal of African Media Studies 4 (1): 45–59.
Gray, David. 2014. Doing Research in the Real World. Los Angeles, London: Sage.
Gurevitch, Michael, Mark Levy, and Itzhak Roeh. 1991. The Global Newsroom: Convergences and Diversities in the Globalisation of Television News. In Communications and Citizenship: Journalism and the Public Sphere in the New Media Age, ed. Peter Dahlgren and Colin Sparks, 195–216. London: Routledge.
Himelboim, Itai. 2010. The International Network Structure of News Media: An Analysis of Hyperlinks Usuage in News Web Sites. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 54 (3): 373–390.
Ho, Shirley S., Dominique Brossard, and Dietram A. Scheufele. 2007. Trends: Public Reactions to Global Health Threats and Infectious Diseases. The Public Opinion Quarterly 71 (4): 671–692.
Househ, Mowafa. 2015. Communicating Ebola Through Social Media and Electronic News Media Outlets: A Cross-Sectional Study. Health Informatics Journal 1–9.
https://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/NG. Accessed 20 November 2017
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/ebola-fear-overshadows-afcon-2015/. Accessed 4 Mar 2016.
Karlsson, Michael, Christer Clerwalla, and Henrik Örnebring. 2015. Hyperlinking Practices in Swedish Online News 2007–2013: The Rise, Fall, and Stagnation of Hyperlinking as a Journalistic Tool. Information, Communication & Society 18 (7): 847–863.
Kperogi, Farooq. 2012. The Evolution and Challenges of Online Journalism in Nigeria. In The Handbook of Global Online Journalism, ed. Eugenia Siapera and Andreas Veglis, 445–461. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
———. 2016. Networked Social Journalism: Media, Citizen Participation and Democracy in Nigeria. In Participatory Politics and Citizen Journalism in a Networked Africa, ed. Bruce Mutsvairo, 19–33. London: Palgrave.
Mabweazara, Hayes M. 2013. Normative Dilemmas and Issues for Zimbabwean Print Journalism in the ‘Information Society’ Era’. Digital Journalism 1 (1): 135–151.
———. 2015. Charting Theoretical Directions for Examining African Journalism in the ‘Digital Era’. Journalism Practice 9 (1): 106–122.
Mudhai, Okoth F. 2011. Immediacy and Openness in A Digital Africa: Networked-Convergent Journalism in Kenya. Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism 12 (6): 674–691.
O’Sullivan, John. 2012. Challenging Values: The ‘Good’ Journalists Online. In The Handbook of Global Journalism, ed. Eugenia Siaperia and Chichester Andreas Veglis, 39–58. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
Okeke, Victor. 2015. Buhari Pledges $1m to Fight Against Ebola. Leadership. July 22. http://leadership.ng/news/448626/buhari-pledges-1m-to-fight-against-ebola. Accessed 10 Mar 2016.
Olukotun, Ayo. 2004. Media Accountability and Democracy in Nigeria, 1999–2003. African Studies Review 47 (3): 69.
Paterson, Chris. 2007. International News on the Internet: Why More Is Less. The International Journal of Communication Ethics 4 (1/2): 57–66.
Pavlik, John V. 2013. Innovation and the Future of Journalism. Digital Journalism 1 (2): 181–193.
Rosen, Jay. 2006. The People Formerly Known as the Audience. http://www.archive.pressthink.org/2006/06/27/ppl_frmr.html. Accessed 29 June 2015.
Siapera, Eugenia. 2012. Understanding New Media. Los Angeles: Sage.
Willnat, Lars, David Weaver, and Jihyang Choi. 2013. The Global Journalist in the Twenty-First Century. Journalism Practice 7 (2): 163–183.
World Health Organisation. 2014. Nigeria Is Now Free of Ebola Virus Transmission. October 20. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/20-october-2014/en/. Accessed 10 Mar 2016.
Wu, Denis H. 2007. ‘A Brave New World for International News?’ Exploring the Determinants of the Coverage of Foreign Nations on US Websites. The International Communication Gazette 69 (6): 539–551.
Yang, Jin. 2003. Framing the NATO Air Strikes on Kosovo Across Countries: Comparison of Chinese and US Newspaper Coverage. Gazette: The International Journal For Communication Studies 65 (3): 231–249.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ette, M. (2018). Reality Check: The Nigerian Press and the Potential of the Internet in the Domestication of International News. In: Mabweazara, H. (eds) Newsmaking Cultures in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54109-3_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54109-3_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-54108-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-54109-3
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)