Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism

For a very long time, Nigerian scholars in various fields of endeavours, professionals and practitioners have argued on the trade journalism. This issue bothers on the fact that every dicks and harry dabbles into this profession either to make ends meet, practice it for political ambition or easily pick it up at the time of “employment recession”. Journalism as a profession especially in Nigeria has been hijacked by quacks or subtly put, people from other professional careers such as Philosophy, English, Psychology and obnoxiously from natural sciences at the detriment of this noble profession. It is in view of this that this research seeks to elucidate the implications and activities of non-professionalism in news reportage. The Nigerian press today is being accused of conducting or engaging in non-professional activities and this has been the bane of journalism in Nigeria. At the inception of the return of power to democratic rule, professionals in all fields stormed Abuja (FCT) to demand for special salary scale but when it was the turn of journalists the then Minister of Information Jerry Gana declared loud and clear that Nigeria journalists were not professionals. Subsequent attempts to redeem the image of Nigerian journalists have hit the rock. In light of this, it has been the concern of academia in the field of mass communication as well as the professionals in the field of journalism to finding a lasting solution to this lingering issue. So, relevant suggestions are needed to help journalists develop a sense of professionalism. This is a situation set to be resolved in this work. The paper recommends among other things that the regulatory bodies; (NUJ), (NGE), (NPAN) and other regulatory bodies should enforce the code of ethical conduct and get rid of quacks in the profession. It pushes further that proper marriage between formal education and years of experience along necessary training should form basis for entrance into the profession.

Mass movement refers to the concept which is supported by a large segment of population especially one which doesn’t involve much of the elite section. In India itself, we have witnessed many movements beginning from the struggle for independence to the current Anna Hazare’s Anti Corruption Movement. Media’s inevitable role in success of a campaign is well established and plays a vital role to make any campaign a success. The definition of media in today’s world has changed and it has turned into an integrated platform that deals with different modes of communication to make it more effective. In context of Hazare’s campaign; Internet & Social Media sites have been abuzz with articles/messages showing support for Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption and his plea to pass Jan Lokpal Bill. For example–Facebook now has over 100 pages dedicated to Anna Hazare and his campaign. New media being a most popular media among the youth is giving new dimensions. New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content. Another important promise of new media is the “democratization” of the creation, publishing, distribution and consumption of media content. Facebook is an example on the social media model, in which most users are also participants. Present paper is an attempt to demystify the role of new media as a tool to increase reach of mass movements. For the purpose of study data was collected from various pages of social networking sites and analyzed on the basis of set parameters. A small survey is also conducted through purposive sampling technique to add the audience perspective into the study. Result of the study has interesting story about the new media as well as mass movement and both are complementing each other. Though new media users are very few in number, yet a large audience rates new media as the best available platform to voice one’s opinion about a movement.

The media plays an important role in the discourse of homelessness. The purpose of this study was to compare how two Alberta newspapers (Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal) and one national newspaper(the Globe and Mail) covered homeless issues in terms of population, main themes, article type, monthly differences, and critical time periods. Through purposive sampling technique, 449 articles from 1987 to 2007 were selected for analysis, including 128 news articles from the Edmonton Journal, 152 from the Calgary Herald and 169 from the Globe and Mail. A content analysis showed that these newspapers have different agenda settings for homelessness related issues. We argue that the differences among the newspapers’ coverage on homelessness are directly related to media ownership, and the unique economic and political structure and ideology at national and provincial levels.

Internet being an educative, entertaining and informative platform for both formal and informal activities is emerging as a key resource towards exchange of ideas, information and opinion meant for realization of millennium development goals. Internet Social Forums have thus created electro space and new page to rethink, develop, lobby, discuss, exchange, share, integrative and strengthen both national and global agendas. Forums such as the skype, netlog, facebook and twitter have emerged as favourite opening for social-economic, political, psychological, physiological and physical issues that catalyze development and aid achievement of sustainable development of Nations World Wide. Developing countries need to continuously embrace and maximize on utilization of this forums to realize universal education to all gender, equity, end poverty and hunger, improve and realize optimum child health, control and combat HIV/AIDS, realize environmental sustainability and effect global partnership. Through these forums a number of nations have managed to revolutionize on items such as political ideology and leadership, power control and good governance implementation, economic activities such as agriculture, business, fishing, mining, and entrepreneurial skills among others. This paper intends to analyze the effects of internet social forums as a virtue or timely blessings for realization of Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s).

There are trends showing that women using internet around the world is increasing. A new study confirms that Arab women are highly proficient in the use of the internet. This study is investigating the online attitudes and behaviors of Arab women using the internet, case study is UAE and Omani women. This is a comparative study which compares the use of internet of the UAE and Omani women. The study conducted between 2007- 2008 and it’s a descriptive study that aims to describe and investigate the way that Arab women use the internet in two countries (the UAE and Oman). This study is important because it will help to understand the phenomenon of Arab women using internet. Studies of Arab women using internet are rare. In addition, the importance of this study is to lead to deep investigation in the future in the area of Arab women using internet. The study found that there are no big differences between the UAE women and Omani women in using internet. The study has shown that both women are using internet every day between 1-4 hours daily. Both women use internet for different reasons such as sending and receiving e-mails, to find some information, to read newspaper, to chat with friends, and to learn some skills. The study found that there is a difference in using internet for expressing feeling between UAE women and Omani women. 80% of UAE women are using internet to express their feeling while 30% of women are using internet for the same reason. Both women are agreed that using internet helped them to understand women issues around the world.