Readership and Perception of Newspaper Editorials for Social Mobilization and Transformation among Selected Netizens in Nigeria
Keywords:
Editorials,, Netizens,, Perception,, Readership,, Social Mobilization,, TransformationAbstract
This study, which was anchored in the ‘technology determinism’ and the ‘uses and gratification’ theories, interrogated five research questions and three hypotheses to determine readership and perceptions of newspaper editorials for social transformation among Netizens in Nigeria through a survey of 1,250 respondents found by random sampling. Findings showed a significant difference between readership of hardcopy and softcopy newspapers among the respondents. A majority of the respondents did not read editorials in softcopy newspapers regularly. Most of them also perceived editorials as efficient, convenient, and cost-effective for social mobilization and transformation. However, the study found that gender did not determine respondents’ perception of editorials but found a significant relationship between respondents’ age brackets and their perception of editorials. The study concludes that low readership renders editorials inefficient as a force for social mobilization and transformation in present-day society. It recommends that planners of social mobilization and transformation campaigns should focus more on online newspapers than hardcopy versions.
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