The Ethical Dimension in Citizen Journalism Practice: A Study of the 2015 Presidential Election in Nigeria

Abstract

Media can set agenda which can positively or negatively affect the society. Beyond the setting of agenda the media can and do act as agents of checks and balances of the other powers in the society. Social media have greatly increased the power of the media and have produced what may be called the ‘fifth estate’ which may be termed citizen journalism; whose power have produced events that were responsible for the creation and propagation of Arab spring, terrorism, and the unprecedented active participation of citizens in politics of world democracies. Citizen journalism is now a great phenomenon in Nigeria. This is a welcome development considering the way citizen journalists have democratized the media. Consequently, Nigerians no longer depend only on the mainstream media for information and news. Citizen journalists through the platforms of Facebook and twitter have played great roles in the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria. As good as this may sound, there is an ethical dimension regarding the practice of citizen journalism in Nigeria. There is the fear that most citizen journalists do no play by the rules or the ethical principles of journalism. This paper will therefore investigate the ethical dimension in citizen journalism practice during the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria.



Author Information
Ngozi Okpara, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria

Paper Information
Conference: EuroMedia2015
Stream: Journalism

This paper is part of the EuroMedia2015 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon