Impact of Citizen Journalism on News Credibility in Nigeria

This study is an assessment of impact of citizen journalism on news credibility in Nigeria, usingJournalists in Kwara State as a study. The study was guided by four objectives, which are todetermine the level of citizen journalism awareness among Journalists in Kwara State, to examinethe views of journalists on the impact that citizen journalism poses on news credibility in Nigeria,to ascertain the factors influencing audience trust in citizen-generated contents compared toprofessional journalism, and to investigate the challenges caused by citizen journalism on newscredibility in Nigerian society. Quantitative research approach was employed while survey methodwas adopted as the research instrument. Taro Yamane model was used to arrive at the sample sizefor the study. Frequency distribution table and percentage was used in presenting and analyzingthe data gathered for the study. The data gathered revealed that the level of citizen journalismawareness among Journalists in Kwara State is high, the respondents opined that citizenjournalists are not ethical in discharging journalistic work, that the lack of training by citizenjournalists makes their contents to be full of lies and that their level of professionalism is low,majority of the respondents affirmed that citizen journalism has negative impact on newscredibility in Nigeria.