Media Convergence in Nigeria and Identify The Types Of Media Convergence in Operation.
Media convergence as a word is an abstract noun derived from the verb ‘converge’, which, according to the dictionary, means `to come from different directions and meet at the same point to become one thing. Bowles and Borden [2004] contend that most people have reached the agreement that convergence as applied to journalism and the media is about delivering news content through several media forms platforms. While discussing convergence in the media, Berger [2008; 168] identifies seven types of convergence as follows;
(1) Corporate convergence [as in joint ventures] between telecom and media companies; (2) The branching out of a traditional print operation into internet publishing or audio/video or mobile; (3)Reverse publishing from the web into print;
(4)Production processes, where content is co-ordinate or shared
(5)The convergence of skill set of previously segregated specialist media practitioners – whether reporter , new editor , or production personnel;
(6)Convergence of media consumer devices: e.g. the camera-cell phone or computer s begin to watch video broadcasts; and
(7)The coming together of producer and consumer functions-the audience generating media(content) MEDIA CONVERGENCE IN NIGERIA
Using the various convergence model highlighted in this chapter, no Nigerian media falls into the category of corporate convergence, say between telecom and media or between TV and newspaper companies. Most media businesses in Nigeria remain as print or electronic companies. The country is yet to witness mergers between newspapers and telecommunications companies or between telecommunication companies and electronic media or even between newspapers and electronic companies or with internet companies such as the one between American Online (AOL) and TIME magazine in the USA.
a.The second convergence model of branching out of traditional print operation into internet publishing or audio/video or mobile, is the one more prevalent in the Nigeria media landscape
b.The general observation is that all the newspapers whose website were visited, at listed above, have online presence, which makes them available not only to their local audiences in Nigeria, but also to people all over the world, but also to people all over the world, particularly Nigerians in the Diaspora. The newspapers also have features on their Home Pages, which make it possible for reader to react and/or contribute is issues. Online presence has made it possible for the million of Nigerians in the Diaspora to follow what is going on in Nigerians on a daily basis as can be seen from some contributions by Nigerians living outside the country in various newspapers. The use of email addresses of the newspapers and contact page on the websites also makes it easy for Nigerians living abroad to contribute regularly to discusses about various issues in the country. Most Nigerian newspapers, though conforming to Berger’s model of convergence, have limited multimedia functions because they only feature text and pictures/ graphics. Ramanujam (2008:38) identifies two features of multimedia in journalism as: first, the presentation of a news story package on a website, using two or more media formats, such as spoken and written word, music, moving and still images, graphic animations, including interactive and hyper textual elements ;second ,the integrated presentation of a new story packaged through different media ,such as a website, a Usenet newsgroup, e-mail, SMS, MMS, radio, television , telex, print newspaper and magazines. Of all the newspapers in Nigeria , only Next, so far, has video, audio, text, graphics and pictures featured in news stories such that a visitor to the website can decide to read the text only of a story or listen and view the same story on Next TV, the audio visual part of the same website. THE PUNCH and The Nation , fall into the sixth convergence and business model-convergence of consumer devices: the camera –cell phone or computers being used to receive or watch broadcasts. Already, many Nigerians own devices such as mobile phones which can receive radio and television signals.
While accessing news on the websites of Nigeria newspaper is free, and, therefore, brings little revenue except for the occasional online advertisements, to get print or text news on mobile phone, subscribers must pay buying scratch cards. While access to the nation on mobile is free, subscribers are expected to pay a “token’’ of N100 in short message service to access any of the paper’s six special offers, while THE PUNCH sells scratch cards to subscribers at the rate of N1,500 per month (Olaleye2009).
Other Nigerian newspapers are waiting in the wings to see how successful these experiments by THE PUNCH and The Nation would be before jumping into the bandwagon to entice the estimated 61 million Nigerians using mobile phones, most of them young people.
As for the electronic media, there is also convergence with the traditional television and radio stations also having online presence with live internet broadcasts and video and audio streaming, while some of them at the Nigeria electronic media websites also provide texts, pictures and graphics in additions to the live broadcast and streaming.
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