AUDIENCE PERCEPTION OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM AS NEWS SOURCES

Abstract

The study set out to find the perception of citizen journalism by the audience as news sources in a time when citizen journalism spreads news very fast before the mainstream media get wind of some events. This study employed the survey research method using the questionnaire to evaluate audience perception of citizen journalism as news sources using Nsukka Local Government Area as the scope of study. The population for this study was 458,253 and the sample size for this study using the Australian sample size calculator was 384. However, only 376 responded to this study. From their responses, it was found out that a significant proportion of the respondents would not recommend citizen journalism as news sources to friends. It was also found out that Twitter is mostly used by citizen journalists in disseminating news stories. The study recommended that citizen journalists should not be in a hurry to break unconfirmed news stories. This way, they could win the trust of the audience and be introduced to friends as news sources. The study also recommended that the mainstream media wrest Twitter away from the grasp of citizen journalists by aggressively flooding the platform with adverts and activities from corporate organisations.