Scholarly Works
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://repository.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/325
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Item We are not parasites: intergroup differentiation in the user-generated content of Nigerian news media(Deepak Ranjan Jena, 2019) Ojebuyi, B. R.; Salawu, A.Studies have shown that despite the freedom of content creation and democratic participation, the digital space has also provided platforms for negative discourse with far-reaching implications for national unity and democracy. However, scant scholarly attention has been given to the prevalence and nature of online negative discourse in a pluralistic and politically complex society like Nigeria. Therefore, anchored on the Social Identity Theory (SIT), this study examined forms of intergroup discrimination as a negative discourse in the user-generated content (UGC) of online platforms of select Nigerian news media. Textual analysis of the UGC shows that as users react to news stories about national issues, they also create contents that reflect group identities and intergroup prejudices characterising Nigeria as a country with fragile unity. This phenomenon is a new socio-cultural order that poses serious threats to the peaceful co-existence and future of Nigeria—a nation grappling with sundry political, ethno-religious and security challenges.Item Negative rhetoric in the user generated content of Nigerian news media(2016) Ojebuyi, B. R.Despite its enhancement of citizens’ freedom of expression and participation through content creation, studies have shown that the digital space enabled by Web 2.0 technologies is not without some negative consequences such as prevalence of negative rhetoric with serious implications for social cohesion. However, the veracity of this claim, as related to the Nigerian context, needs further empirical investigation. Guided by Face Negotiation Theory, this study, therefore, through quantitative content analysis and textual analysis, examined the nature of issues articulated by readers in the comment sections of purposively selected Nigerian news media- Premium Times, The Punch, Sahara Reporters, and The Vanguard. Analyses of 3, 796 users’ comments show that User-Generated Content (UGC) in the comment sections of the selected news media have more incidences of negative rhetoric (n=2,023; 53.3%) than positive (n=1,298; 34.2%) and neutral (n=475; 12.5%) comments. Besides, while negotiating self-worth and personas (face), users employ textual codes that carry elements of impoliteness, harassment, abuse, hatred, threats, incitement, and danger, and are capable of promoting cultural contradictions, ethnic dichotomies, and socio-political dissonance among Nigerians. A discourse culture where citizens predominantly employ negative rhetoric to negotiate conflicts is inimical to social and structural cohesion of the nation.