News on our Finger Tip: A Study of Online News Reading Habits of Undergraduates in South-East, Nigeria

Abstract

The information age has created many challenges for every profession. In the case of journalism, the introduction of information technology has altered considerably various aspects of the profession. News consumption today is not the same as pre-satellite news when people waited for their morning papers or sat down at an appointed time for the evening news on television, but the reverse is the case. More recently, a growing number of readers, viewers and listeners are going online for their news. The advent of modern digital technologies, especially the growing popularity of social networking on the web, mobile phones, televisions, and other means of entertainment, the reading habit of the general public, especially the students, is on the fall. Reading newspapers is an important part of journalism education. The aim of this study was to examine the level of newspaper reading habits of undergraduate students of mass communication in South-East, Nigeria. Out of a total population of 4365 students, a sample of 368 respondents was studied. The study found that 36.9% respondents moderately read online newspapers and when they do read these newspapers, about 60.8% spend less than one hour reading these newspapers. The study concluded, therefore, that the online news reading habit of mass communication students in South-East, Nigeria is low. It was recommended that students of mass communication should be encouraged to look out for news stories online by reading online newspapers whenever they are on the Internet.

KEYWORDS: Online Journalism, News, Reading Habits, Students