Abstract:
The reception of news and information is diverse and has been evolving. There has
been a rapid alteration in the news environment and news consumption practices. The
society is moving from the conventional news cycle which is controlled by journalism
professionals to a more composite information cycle that integrates ordinary people
within its processes. Social media has been increasingly used to gather and share news
stories from mainstream news websites. Studies have found young people who are
tech savvy, especially, students to be particularly interested in exploring the media
options that come along with technology. In order for the traditional news media to
understand how to better appeal to young people, studies have recommended that,
attention must be given to how young people value and use news in different ways.
While research on online news sharing abounds, most of the research to date has not
focused on the attitudes and behaviour of users of social media. This study, therefore,
investigates the case of news sharing practices on Facebook and WhatsApp of
students of University of Education, Winneba (UEW). It investigates the types of
news stories students of UEW share on social media; examines their motivations for
sharing news stories and explores how students evaluate the credibility of the news
stories they share. Employing the Uses and Gratifications (UG) and the Epistemology
of Testimony theories, the study through interviews and focus group discussions
analysed data from purposively selected students from the School of Communication
and Media Studies of UEW. The findings indicated that, the participants particularly
share entertainment/celebrity, politics, crime, sports and local/campus news. The
analysed data further revealed that, entertainment and socialisation are the most
dominant motivations of participants for sharing news on social media. The study
concludes that, news stories shared on Facebook and WhatsApp are predominantly
‘soft’ news due to their virality and the participants aim to relax, release tension and
interact with others. Also, the study concludes that participants employ heuristics like
assessing the source of news stories, confirming from other independent sources,
relying on reasoning and presentation when analysing the credibility of news stories
as they prefer verification techniques that require the least time and mental effort. An
interesting finding of the study is the discovery of the flaming news type which is
now popular with young people in Ghana.
Description:
A dissertation in the Department of Strategic Communication,
School of Communication and Media Studies,
submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Business Communication)
in the University of Education, Winneba.
November, 2021