Browsing by Author "Umeaku, Perpetua Chinonye1"

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    Investigating the relationships between news media trust and participatory governance among Nigerian youths
    (2021-06) Umeaku, Perpetua Chinonye1; Babatunde, Kamaldin Abdulsalam2
    As Africa’s most populous country and one of the most influential countries on the continent, Nigeria unarguably has continued to struggle to make some progress in strengthening its democracy since it returned two decades ago. The media as the fourth estate has important functions to play in strengthening democracy and sustaining good political systems by galvanizing people’s interest through civic education and participation in governance. However, the media’s role in African society as societal watchdog and development partners seem to be problematic because of issues of commercialization, competition, and political economy of the media. As the media tries to perform its role amidst these hindrances, what becomes rife is journalist downplaying journalistic ethos and principles that can affect public confidence in the media. Drawing on media credibility research and amidst the argument that confidence in the media is a moderating factor in people’s media use and political behaviour, we surveyed 160 Nigerian youths to investigate the relationship between news media trust and participatory governance. Running a Pearson correlation analysis, we found a negative relationship between the two constructs despite youths’ high exposure to the media. However, television still enjoys the highest level of trust among the types of media. The results highlight the need for media organisations to repackage and keep up with their guards against influences that may erode their integrity.
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    Security Implications of the Social Media: A Study of Users’ Awareness and Precautionary Measures
    (2019) Umeaku, Perpetua Chinonye1; Shaibu, Agnes Joe
    These days, social media is becoming a part of Nigerian youths’ life due to increased access and use of the internet. To the users, it holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device. In spite of the inherent communicative advantages of social media, it is also associated with security risks. While literature abounds on the nature of risks users are exposed to, not much research has been done on their level of awareness of these dangers. This study sought to examine whether social media users are adequately aware of the security implications of risky social media use and are taking precautionary measures to guard themselves. A Survey was conducted among undergraduates of Kwara State University, Malete. Questionnaire was used as the research instrument to elicit information from 400 respondents drawn using the Stratified Random and convenience Sampling techniques. Results show that many of the users significantly demonstrated awareness of the implications of social media usage and protective attitudes, even as a fraction of sampled respondents’ activities portends risky behaviour, in terms of acceptance of friend request from strangers and online dating. The study recommends that undergraduate students be encouraged towards the positive use of social media.