Abstract

Despite the opportunities created by the new media, developing countries, which Nigeria is among, are still discussing imbalance in the global news flow and the underdevelopment of the countries. To this end, this paper adopts a qualitative approach in arguing that though Big News Agencies and technological gap still exist, Nigerian journalists and the citizen journalists should reconsider the news values that guide reportage of issues, to bring about development of the country. In doing this, the paper relied on secondary data from books, journals and online materials to support the discourse, while Development Communication Theory which strongly maintains that the media should be at the frontline of development, underpinned the discourse. Among others, the paper ascertained that reportage of issues in Nigeria is still pandering to the age-long Western style of prominence as news value and craze for what sells a newspaper or attracts huge audiences to the media houses even at the detriment of the country’s image abroad. It concludes that Nigerians can be in control of what they disseminate, how they pass on such information and how they want the country to be perceived abroad. Specifically, it maintained that Nigerian journalists and the citizen journalists should be deliberate about using the new media for the development of the country. It recommends, among others, that professional journalists should be sensitised on the importance of engaging in development journalism, and made to understand that prominence is created by them which means anyone or any issue can be made prominent depending on how it is framed by them.

Key Words: News Values, Development, Nigeria, Imbalance, Global News Flow

^JCMR Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 14, No. 1, Special Issue 2, June 2022, pp. 115-122

© Association of Media and Communication Researchers of Nigeria (AMCRON).

About the authors

*Ata-Awaji Anthony Reuben is of the Department of Mass Communication, Topfaith University, Mkpatak, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria                                           

**Godsgift Odiepiriye Harold, Ph.D. is of the Department of Mass Communication, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria

Article Citation

Reuben, A. A. & Harold, G. O. (2022). Reconsidering news values for Nigeria’s development and the subsisting argument on global information flow. Journal of Communication and Media Research, 14 (1, SP. 2): 115-122.

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