Challenging hegemonic media practices: Of ‘alternative’ media and Nigeria's democracy

Abstract

The Nigerian press has played a significant role as a public watchdog, but the proliferation of new information technologies poses the question: Is journalism in Nigeria under threat and increasingly becoming a networked activity? This article interrogates the extent to which the collaboration between professional journalists and ‘the-people-formerly-known-as-the-audience’ is influencing institutional journalistic practices in Nigeria. Using the Occupy Nigeria protests, this study employs a combination of an ethnographic approach utilising semi-structured interviews and newsroom observations and critical discourse analysis of news texts to investigate whether other forms of ‘alternative’ journalisms are creating shifts in the balance of power between professional journalists and the audience.