Broadening mass communication research for enhanced media practice

  • Fred A. Amadi

Abstract

This article examines how the attention which media scholarship gives to only thequantitative research method impacts on journalism practice in Nigeria. Firstly, typicalmass media texts were purposively selected and presented on a titled table. SecondlyCritical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methods were used to analyse selected texts. Thirdlye-mailing and audio recording were used to elicit comments from a reporter and aneditor. The editor and the reporter who commented wrote the stories from which theselected newspaper texts were drawn. Lastly, elicited comments were used to buttressarguments as the analysis progressed. In Nigeria journalists report news withoutimputation. Reporting news without imputations flaws news presentation. In this articleflaws in news presentation are attributed to the attention which media scholarship inNigeria gives to only the quantitative research method. The article proposes that as thequalitative research method, more so than the quantitative method, imparts better criticalskills to journalists, the qualitative method should be emphasised more in mass mediaresearch.

Author Biography

Fred A. Amadi
Dr. Fred Amadi is a Senior Lecturer on the departmental board of Mass Communication atthe Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Dr. Amadiresearches in the area of Hermeneutics and Critical Discourse Analysis and has published,among others, Letters to the editor as a parameter of examining agenda-setting theory inthe Nigerian context; Rhetoric of presentation in Nigeria’s social discourse.Contact details: Department of Mass Communication, Rivers State University of Science& Technology, PMB 5080, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Telephone: +2347038087887. E-mail: dbaff2k4@yahoo.com
Published
2011-11-02
Section
Academic Papers