Social Media and Journalism Ethics in Nigeria: A Study of Journalists in Kwara State of Nigeria

Abstract

Journalism is a term that has been used to describe the act of gathering and reporting news, either through the print media which includes newspaper, magazine or through the broadcast media to mention television, radio broadcasting system and recently journalism has been extended throughout the world through unrestricted use of social media, whereby the act of gathering and disseminating of news is done without restraint. Conversely, one important thing to note about journalism is the ethics that enhance the profession, its notes worthy to know that any information that is disseminated via any media should be ethically standard. The new media has on a large scale given the opportunity to a whole large number of people to practice journalism without them knowing the ethics that guide the profession, which is affecting the dynamics of the profession. Therefore this study is based on assessing the impact of a new communication system on journalism; whether social media promote the ethics of journalism profession and to know if social media journalists are in compliance with the journalism code of ethics in their dissemination of news and information. In this research, the survey method was adopted and the north-central geo-political zone, Kwara state to be précised was selected for the study.