Journalists' Awareness and Knowledge of Social Media Applications for Investigation in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined the level of awareness of investigative journalists on the benefits of Social Media Applications (SMAs) for sourcing information in the Southwest of Nigeria; ascertained investigative journalists’ knowledge of SMAs functions and usage for investigative purposes and found out whether investigative journalists employ SMAs for investigative reasons.  Survey method was adopted with a sample of 344 investigative journalists.  The multi-stage sampling technique was used for the administration of copies of questionnaire. Descriptive statistics of simple percentage and frequency count was employed for the data analysis. Findings indicated that investigative journalists had a high level of awareness of the benefits of SMAs for gathering investigative data and also displayed a high knowledge of the functions and usage of SMAs for investigation but are significantly challenged by non-conformity of SMAs to their organizations’ workflow and policy combined with the ethical dilemma inherent in social media application for investigation. The study concluded that the awareness and knowledge of SMAs resulted in minimal usage by investigative journalists.  Hence, this study recommended that media organisations should ameliorate challenges of investigative journalists utilizing SMAs for investigation by providing facilities that could improve their usage.  Journalists should be devoted to the exploration of social media technology and engage ethically in the use of the diverse SMAs for investigative purposes.