The Influence of Citizen Journalism on Professional Journalism Practice in Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

It is essential for any democratic society for media because of the need to inform its citizens, promote transparency, educate the masses, and act as a watchdog against any malpractices committed by the government or any institution. The job of reporting, processing, and disseminating news has traditionally been done by journalists in professional media organizations. There are ethical principles in professional journalism, including accuracy, impartiality, objectivity, independence, accountability, and verification among others. These ethical principles differentiate professional journalism from other kinds of news dissemination and build trust in the media by the people (Lateef, 2025).

The emergence of ICTs and smartphones, as well as the rise of social media sites, has brought major changes into the world of journalism. At the moment, ordinary people can report any incident on different social media sites including Facebook, X, Instagram, Tiktok, WhatsApp, and YouTube. This phenomenon is popularly referred to as citizen journalism. Citizen journalism involves nonprofessional people who participate in reporting, analyzing, and dissemination of news without being in a professional media house (Inobemhe & Garba, 2025).

The media has a central and essential function in every democratic society, to inform citizens, provide accountability, bring enlightenment, and to watchdog the government and other institutions. Usually gathering, processing, and delivering news has been the task of trained journalists working within conventional media organizations. A professional reporter has a code of rules and standards, including accuracy fairness objectivity independence reporting responsibility, standards for verification, and accountability, which differentiates professional journalism from other forms of spreading information and maintains public trust in the media (Lateef,2025). The pace of development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), smartphones and social media applications has dramatically transformed the business of journalism all over the world.

Today, the lives of even ordinary citizens' can be seen, recorded and communicated on Facebook, X (twitter) Instagram TikTok, WhatsApp and Youtube for all to seealmost immediately. This birth of citizen journalism is. Per Inobemhe & Garba (2025), citizen journalism is "a process whereby individuals who are not professional journalists engage in gathering reporting analyzing and dissemination of news..

There are several ways in which citizen journalism has helped in the practice of journalism. It has facilitated the reaching of remote communities with information, it has supported public participation in democracy, it has helped make government activities more transparent and it has accelerated the supply of breaking news. Mostly in the cases where professional journalists are the ones that have to be held back or given security challenges, it is the citizen journalists who are able to give first hand accounts, which then make the news reporting richer. This is why most of the mainstream media companies are now counting on citizen-producing content as a part of their news-gathering techniques (Lateef, 2025).

But, the other side of the coin shows that, the growing weight of citizen journalism has sparked serious worry about the working of professional journalism. For example, unlike the journalists who are professionally trained, most citizen journalists don't have a proper media ethics education, nor fact-checking, editorial standards, or knowledge of legal responsibilities. So, false reports misinformation disinformation sensationalism hate speech, photo manipulation and the spreading of unverified information are the order of the day on digital platforms. Such problems have forced the professional journalists to not only check facts before publishing but also to stay one step ahead in the online reporting race (Zhou, 2025).

Another important issue that must be taken into account is how the role of professional journalists as information gatekeepers has evolved. Historically, journalists were responsible for the selection and validation of information before releasing it to the public. However, the emergence of citizen journalism has disrupted the traditional practice of gatekeeping because it allows the dissemination of news directly to the audience. This change has affected the workflow of newsrooms, audience participation, and the methods of verifying information and engaging with the audience (Igwe et al., 2025).

Moreover, citizen journalism has impacted newsroom competitions in Nigeria. Media professionals are now forced to publish news instantly if they want to compete with citizen journalists. Sometimes, such pressure leads to poor verification of information that threatens journalistic integrity. However, many media outlets have managed to incorporate citizen journalism into their editorial workflow despite all challenges (Amah & Young, 2025).

Recent research findings indicate that the future of journalism will be more about collaboration among citizen journalism and professional journalism instead of competition between them. Professional journalists have ethics, investigation capabilities, and experience in editing news stories whereas citizen journalists have immediate coverage, local insights, and firsthand knowledge. Thus, collaboration of both sides will bring in better coverage of news stories while maintaining professionalism (Lateef, 2025).

The objective of this study is to conduct an analysis of how citizen journalism affects professional journalism practices in Nigeria with a special focus on its impact on news gathering, newsroom operations, ethical principles, credibility, and professionalism.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The advent of citizen journalism has changed the way news is produced and disseminated in Nigeria. Although it has facilitated participation in news information and increased the availability of breaking news, citizen journalism has brought about numerous problems for professional journalism.

Professional journalists are under pressure to compete against citizen journalists, who produce and release news information immediately through social media networks without adhering to any established editorial process. This has forced media houses to rush to beat time at the cost of accuracy and therefore end up releasing false news information.

Additionally, the spread of misleading information by citizen journalism has resulted in a decline in trust in news. The professional journalists need to spend more time and effort on validating the content created by users before publishing. Not doing so may harm media credibility and ethics (Zhou, 2025).

Even though citizen journalism in Nigeria has been the subject of research in the past, the development of digital media technology requires researching the current impact that citizen journalism makes on the professional journalism practice. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of citizen journalism on professionalism, ethics, credibility, news production, and media practice in Nigeria.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The general research objective of this research work is the impact of citizen journalism on the practice of professional journalism in Nigeria.

The specific objectives are to:

1. Investigate the impact of citizen journalism on news gathering in Nigeria.

2. Establish the impact of citizen journalism on the ethics of professional journalism.

3. Investigate the impact of citizen journalism on the credibility of news reports.

4. Establish the challenges that citizen journalism poses to professional journalism.

5. Suggest ways of enhancing cooperation between citizen and professional journalists.

1.4 Research Questions

Questions the research aims to solve include:

1.     The impact of citizen journalism on news gathering in Nigeria.

2.     The impact of citizen journalism on professional journalism practices.

3.     The impact of citizen journalism on the credibility of news gathering.

4.     The challenges citizen journalism poses to professional journalism practices.

5.     The measures that can enhance citizen journalist-professional journalist collaboration.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This research will add to the existing literature on digital journalism and media practices in Nigeria. Information that will be useful to professional journalists, media organizations, journalists' educators, communication researchers, media regulators, and policy makers. Findings will help newsroom managers devise ways of incorporating citizen generated content ethically. Future journalists and researchers in journalism will find the research useful in their academics..

1.7 Scope of the Study

This research explores how citizen journalism impacts professional journalism practice in Nigeria. Dissecting the changes it has brought about in the areas of news gathering, newsroom operations ethics verification, credibility, and journalistic professionalism in Nigerian media institutions is the main thrust of the study.

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms

Citizen Journalism: News gathering, production, and dissemination activities carried out by common people through technological means and social media.

Professional Journalism: Professional journalism conducted by qualified media personnel who uphold certain ethical and professional standards in their work.

Journalism Process: The various processes that are undertaken in the gathering, verification, production, editing, and dissemination of news and information.

Credibility of Media: The extent to which news organizations and journalists are perceived to be accurate, reliable, and objective.

News Verification: The process of authenticating the reliability of news before it is published.