Broadening mass communication research for enhanced media practice

Abstract

This article examines how the attention which media scholarship gives to only the quantitative research method impacts on journalism practice in Nigeria. Firstly, typical mass media texts were purposively selected and presented on a titled table. Secondly Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methods were used to analyse selected texts. Thirdly e-mailing and audio recording were used to elicit comments from a reporter and an editor. The editor and the reporter who commented wrote the stories from which the selected newspaper texts were drawn. Lastly, elicited comments were used to buttress arguments as the analysis progressed. In Nigeria journalists report news without imputation. Reporting news without imputations flaws news presentation. In this article flaws in news presentation are attributed to the attention which media scholarship in Nigeria gives to only the quantitative research method. The article proposes that as the qualitative research method, more so than the quantitative method, imparts better critical skills to journalists, the qualitative method should be emphasised more in mass media research.