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Negative rhetoric in the user generated content of Nigerian news media

Despite its enhancement of citizens’ freedom of expression and participation through content creation, studies have shown that the digital space enabled by Web 2.0 technologies is not without some negative consequences such as prevalence of negative rhetoric with serious implications for social cohe...

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Published: 2016
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LEADER 00000njm a2000000a 4500
001 oai:repository.ui.edu.ng:123456789/3891
042 |a dc 
720 |a Ojebuyi, B. R.  |e author 
260 |c 2016 
520 |a Despite its enhancement of citizens’ freedom of expression and participation through content creation, studies have shown that the digital space enabled by Web 2.0 technologies is not without some negative consequences such as prevalence of negative rhetoric with serious implications for social cohesion. However, the veracity of this claim, as related to the Nigerian context, needs further empirical investigation. Guided by Face Negotiation Theory, this study, therefore, through quantitative content analysis and textual analysis, examined the nature of issues articulated by readers in the comment sections of purposively selected Nigerian news media- Premium Times, The Punch, Sahara Reporters, and The Vanguard. Analyses of 3, 796 users’ comments show that User-Generated Content (UGC) in the comment sections of the selected news media have more incidences of negative rhetoric (n=2,023; 53.3%) than positive (n=1,298; 34.2%) and neutral (n=475; 12.5%) comments. Besides, while negotiating self-worth and personas (face), users employ textual codes that carry elements of impoliteness, harassment, abuse, hatred, threats, incitement, and danger, and are capable of promoting cultural contradictions, ethnic dichotomies, and socio-political dissonance among Nigerians. A discourse culture where citizens predominantly employ negative rhetoric to negotiate conflicts is inimical to social and structural cohesion of the nation. 
024 8 |a 1597-0077 
024 8 |a ui_art_ojebuyi_negative_2016 
024 8 |a Journal of Communication and Language Arts 7(1), pp. 85-106 
024 8 |a http://ir.library.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/3891 
653 |a Face negotiation 
653 |a Media gatekeeping 
653 |a Nigerian news media 
653 |a Online community 
653 |a User-Generated Content (UGC) 
653 |a Web 2.0 technologies 
245 0 0 |a Negative rhetoric in the user generated content of Nigerian news media