Audience Perception of News Credibility on TikTok Compared to Television News in Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

For many years, the media has been among the most reliable sources of news, education, and entertainment within society. Through the provision of accurate, current and objective news, the media plays a major role in democratic governance, national development and enlightenment.. In conventional media, television has been one of the most credible media for news transmission due to the presence of a defined editorial process and ethical journalism. News channels on television have professionals who are trained as journalists; they conduct verification of the information before releasing it to the viewers (Reuters Institute, 2025).

However, the fast-paced technological advancements in the realm of digital communications and social media platforms have changed the landscape of global news media entirely. Social networking sites like TikTok, Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube have emerged as important sources of news consumed by many individuals every day. In contrast to conventional TV broadcasting systems, TikTok gives its users the ability to shoot, edit, and share their videos within a matter of seconds to the entire world audience (Reuters Institute, 2025).

In Nigeria, TikTok has become extremely popular amongst youths, students in universities, professionals, and even government agencies. Starting off as a platform for entertainment, TikTok has now become a significant source of news, politics, health campaigns, promotions, and social activism. Several news stations including Channels Television, TVC News, Arise News, and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) have their official TikTok accounts that they use to reach out to young people who are spending a lot of time on digital media platforms (Ofcom, 2025).

Even with its increasing significance, several worries have arisen about the reliability of the news spread through TikTok. While TV news is usually provided by journalists who abide by certain ethical principles, anyone on TikTok can provide unverified information. This means that it is easier for disinformation, manipulation, fake news, and sensational news to spread through TikTok. The ease at which this happens has made audiences question their reliance on TikTok as a news source. (Reuters Institute, 2025).

The term news credibility is about how much the public trusts and values the accuracy and genuineness of the news delivered. Besides news outlets' fame and image, professional ethics, openness in sources, fact verification, and audience's knowledge of news all play a part in shaping credibility. Television news clearly had an up-to-date advantage when it comes to belief, thanks to its institutional accountability and regulatory supervision. At the same time, the constantly growing popularity and immediacy of the TikTok platform have most definitely resulted in an overall change in the audience's preferences, Mainly young-rated ones who delight in fast easy interactive, and multimedia storytelling (European Digital Media Observatory, 2025).

Interest in academic circles has been sparked by the rising inclination of the Nigerian youth towards digital news consumption. Recent research reveals that lots of youngsters get their news from TikTok mainly because of its easy access and entertaining format Though they are still wary about trusting all the information on the platform. It is a common practice among TikTok news consumers to check the authenticity of news by referring to well-known television stations or reliable online news providers before deeming them trustworthy (Reuters Institute, 2025).

Nigerian TV stations have started using social media to share news more and more. They post news bits interviews documentaries, and live coverage on TikTok mostly to get young viewers. Broadcasting and digital media join forces here they don't compete but work together to deliver news. Even so, people still see TV news as more credible than TikTok content (Ofcom, 2025).

Another significant concern is about how algorithms impact the dissemination of news on TikTok. In traditional broadcasting, it is the editors who, guided by public interest and their professional judgment, decide the news agenda. Such is not the case with TikTok, which relies on recommendation algorithms with the main aim of maximizing user engagement. This often results in emotionally charged, sensational, or controversial news pieces being given more prominence than well-checked reports. The distribution of news mainly based on such algorithms may alter how the audience sees the credibility of news and might be a factor leading to the rapid circulation of misinformation (European Digital Media Observatory, 2025).

The credibility problem in news has now become much more important in Nigeria because of the rise in political communication, campaigns, insecurity, economic problems, and public health communications. People depend upon both television and social media during these times to stay up-to-date. Therefore, it becomes very important to understand how people view the credibility of these news sources.

In this regard, the current research will aim to explore the perceptions of news credibility among TikTok audiences in comparison with TV news audiences in Nigeria, paying attention to those factors which affect their trust and media preferences.

  1.2 Statement of the Problem

The rise of TikTok as one of the primary platforms for news dissemination has completely altered the trend of news consumption in Nigeria. As television still runs under existing journalism protocols and regulations, TikTok gives room for free distribution of news without any form of professional journalism experience.

There have been issues of credibility associated with news dissemination using the TikTok platform. Misinformation, misleading videos, fake news, and news without any form of verification have made it increasingly challenging for consumers of news to separate the truth from falsehood. Nevertheless, many Nigerians continue to use TikTok since it is a quicker way of getting updates than watching television.

On the other hand, there is a decline in youth viewership for television stations because many people turn to digital sources for news and entertainment. Even though it is viewed as being more credible, there still arises the question as to whether the people of Nigeria place their trust more on TV news than on TikTok news in the digital era.

Previous research has separately explored the topics of social media news usage and television credibility. Yet, there is limited research that compares the credibility of news from TikTok and television news among the audience of Nigeria. It is the objective of this study to explore this issue.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

Overall, this study aims at determining the perception of the credibility of news by the audience on TikTok in comparison to television news in Nigeria.

Specifically, this research seeks to:

1.       Analyze audience perception of the credibility of news on TikTok in Nigeria.

2.       Determine audience perception of the credibility of television news in Nigeria.

3.       Compare the degree of trust audiences have on TikTok news and television news.

4.       Determine the factors that affect the audience perception of news credibility on both media.

5.       Make recommendations on how to improve news credibility.