Citizen journalism and print media industry in Uganda
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Date
2018-10
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Kampala International University: College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Abstract
This research takes a critical look at challenges of citizen journalism in Uganda. It also tried to
establish the factors that have influenced the increasing growth and popularity of citizen
journalism. Citizen journalism for the purpose of this research was limited to blogging. Blogging
has become a channel through which people share ideas, news, advice and analyses on different
happenings in the society. The practice has turned out to be journalistic, with a good number of
bloggers running authoritative and influential blogs, where thousands of people flock for
information. In Uganda, blogs are now a permanent fixture in the media environment as their
popularity grows, with bloggers holding influence on political, economic and social discourses.
Their growing influence has made bloggers share audiences with traditional media (newspapers).
This study tried to identify challenges posed by blogging on print journalism and how journalists
respond to new threats. The study also sought to identify the factors that have influenced citizen
journalism (Blogging) in Uganda and how journalists perceive bloggers.
The study was guided by the following research questions: (i) what challenges citizen journalism
has posed to print media industry in Uganda? (ii) How newspapers respond to challenges posed
by citizen journalism in Uganda? (iii) What factors that influence citizen journalism practice in
Uganda? (iv) How print media industry perceives citizen journalism practice in Uganda?
To achieve these objectives, descriptive survey and cross-sectional designs were carried out.
The research sampled 80 journalists in five media houses in Uganda, namely Bukedde, New
Vision, Daily Monitor, Red Pepper and Observer. To put this research in perspective, New
Media and Public Sphere Theories were briefly examined.
The findings reveal that there are some threats posed by blogs on print media, but most
journalists read blogs because they find information on the sites useful and they are now getting
ideas for their stories from the sites. The study concluded that bloggers are not journalists but
their work is very important in complementing the work of journalism.
Description
Research report submitted to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in fulfillment of the requirement for award of Masters of Science in Journalism and Media Studies Kampala International University
Keywords
Citizen, Journalism, Media, Industry