Broadening mass communication research for enhanced media practice

Abstract

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