CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

As the internet changes the face of communication journalists are beginning to have new ways of packaging and disseminating news to the public. Though few journalists in Nigeria have access to the internet and most of them do that in their respective places of work without personal internet access because internet connection is limited to senior people especially managing editors and senior staff notwithstanding, they are left out of the global village. Journalists access internet from cyber cafes, libraries and media resource centres and host of them still see the internet to end -mail. Beyond sending e-mail to headquarters and receiving instructions from the same internet has created few opportunities for journalists to sell stories not only to other media houses locally but cross the globe. The internet has made the world smaller for journalists to explore. His wonderful technology has also made research on various subject matters available via chatting and exchange of messages. This has created new markets and form of journalism where journalists specialize and work is online journalists, content managers or editors or particular websites. The internet is pushing journalists to learn new skills on how to add content to web site, blog and create hyper text links the coming of the internet is also reading journalists to basically now photographic skills such as how to take digital pictures and upload them to computer or add them to blog and website. Internet has made it easy for journalists to research on any subject as it is new of the biggest resources it takes it easy to find out what acronyms stand and also research a certain subject matter. No doubt, the internet is also changing the way he writes for newspapers as he now have to learn how to strictly write for online newspapers. However, most of the online newspapers still carry the same material which was produced by the print version without creating hypertext links to help the visitor stay with the age.

Times and things have indeed changed, globalization has since become a buzz word, and has brought with it change and competition, people’s lives have been variously affected either for the better or for the worse, depending on the side of the divide one finds himself or herself, although Africa and the rest of the developing world (sounds better than the clichéd 3rd world designation) may argue that they are hard done by, by the avenging and scavenging onslaught of the multinational corporations through their invasion and incursion into their markets with cheap mass produced goods.

In addition to people’s clamor for change, rising income levels as a result of improved education, the efforts of silicon valley techies and their technological strides (the internet, personal computers and laptops, PDAs, e-commerce, m-commerce and such other digital devices and systems), the other factors identified to be driving globalisation forward are changing consumer tastes and fashion, the advent of faster means of travel and communication pioneered by CNN and their breaking news tradition, although we now have other global media such as Al-Jazeera, Fox News, BBC, SKY etc, the increasing integration of countries into regional groups for example the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU) etc, and also the rise of super corporations and global giants such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Nike etc. There is also the greed factor which critics of globalisation have used every now- and -then to advance their argument, the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organisation (WTO) protests readily come to mind.