Abstract:
This study investigated the possibilities of collaborative existence between mainstream and citizen journalism in Nigeria. Survey method was adopted to achieve the study aim. The sample size was 323 journalists and 50 citizen journalists selected through a systematic sampling procedure. The questionnaire was used as the instrument of data collection while data was analysed using the statistical package for Social Sciences, version 22. Findings showed that both mainstream and citizen journalists are of the view that journalism is no longer the exclusive preserve of professional journalists and that citizen and mainstream journalists can collaborate in the areas of information gathering and dissemination. Result further indicated that training of citizen journalists is very essential for the collaboration to be effective. To achieve effective collaboration between citizen and mainstream journalism, there is the need for legal, ethical and policy adjustments to be made to accommodate citizen journalism and at the same time uphold the integrity of the profession. Results also showed that effective collaboration between both genres of journalism is limited by factors like ego on the part of professional journalists, poor knowledge of journalistic ethics on the part of citizen journalists and lack of regulatory framework. The researcher recommends short courses for citizen journalists to be trained in the fundamentals of journalism practice and the retraining of professional journalists to become active citizen journalists, while advocating for the amendment of extant codes of journalism practice to accommodate citizen journalism.
