UNDERCOVER REPORTING: A STUDY OF REPORTERS’ DISINTERESTEDNESS IN NIGERIA
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Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ)
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Introduction
This study set out initially to assess undercover reporting in Nigeria but discovered serendipitously that the practice had been a neglected area. This discovery elicited a fresh conceptualization of the dramaturgic process of undercover journalism and an appraisal of the contingent factors that characterize a covert reportorial activity. It analyzed the modus operandi of operating in an ethically recognized deception system and examined why Nigerian journalists usually keep their distance from this practice. A stepwise multiple regression analysis of data gathered from 70 newsmen working with the nation’s dominant media showed that the disinterestedness of journalists in undercover reporting was a concern. In the model that emerged, three of the eleven predisposing factors – conceptual ignorance, poor salary and working conditions, and the fear that the corrupt judiciary could rubbish the outcome of an undercover investigation - were predictors of the disinterestedness. It is not surprising that poor salary is one of them – it is the inadequacy complained about most often by journalists.
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H Social Sciences (General)