Abstract:
This research work empirically analyzed media ownership and the credibility of news reporting in Nigeria. The objectives of this study were to examine whether political and personal ideological difference affect objective reportage among journalist, to examine whether ownership of media organization influence objectivity in news reportage, to investigate if media organization adhere to journalistic guidelines, to investigate the extent to which objectivity affect the credibility and prestige of media organization. The scope of the study is media organizations in Nigeria, The Social Responsibility Theory was used as a framework. The research design used for this study is survey, the population targeted for this study consists of 1400 staffs of NTA News24, staffs of Channels TV and staffs of TVC News. 400 staffs were used as sample size and cluster sampling technique was applied. Instrument used for this study is the questionnaire. Data collected were collected from primary sources. From the analysis of the data, the findings shows that sometimes political and personal ideological difference affect objective reportage among journalist, ownership of media organization sometimes influence objectivity in news reportage, media organization do not always adhere to journalistic guidelines, objectivity affect the credibility and prestige of media organization. Following the findings, it was recommended that political and personal ideological difference should not affect objectivity in news reportage among journalist, ownership of media organization should not influence objectivity in news reportage, media organization should always adhere to journalistic guidelines, objectivity affect the credibility and prestige of media organization, thus media organizations should always be objective in their news reportage. The study concludes that objectivity and credibility in news is the best.
