Chikezie E . Uzuegbunam | Rhodes University (original) (raw)

Journal articles by Chikezie E . Uzuegbunam

The African Journal of Information and Communication, 2023

This study explores how university-educated Nigerians living in two urban centres engaged with, a... more This study explores how university-educated Nigerians living in two urban centres engaged with, and made choices about whether to share or not share, "fake news" on COVID-19 in 2020. The research adopted a qualitative approach by conducting focus group interviews with participants, all university graduates aged 25 or older, sampled from Lagos and Umuahia-two major metropolitan cities in Nigeria. Participants' sense-making practices with regard to fake news on COVID-19 were varied. One core finding was that social media virality was typically seen as being synonymous with fake news due to the dramatic, exaggerated, and sometimes illogical nature of such information. Many participants demonstrated a high level of literacy in spotting fake news. Among those who said that they sometimes shared fake news on COVID-19, one motivation was to warn of the dangers of fake news by making it clear, while sharing, that the information was false. Other participants said that they shared news without being certain of its veracity, because of a general concern about the virus, and some participants shared news if it was at least partially true, provided that the news aimed to raise awareness of the dangers of COVID-19. However, some participants deliberately shared fake news on COVID-19 and did so because of a financial motivation. Those who sought to avoid sharing fake news on COVID-19 did so to avoid causing harm. The study provides insights into the reception of, and practices in engaging with, health-related fake news within a university-educated Nigerian demographic.

International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning, 2022

This paper focuses on a qualitative analysis of the ways in which rural and urban teens domestica... more This paper focuses on a qualitative analysis of the ways in which rural and urban teens domesticate digital technologies that are available to them. The study draws from 16 focus group interviews with teenagers in the southeast and north central parts of Nigeria using a child-centered approach. Anchored on domestication and technological appropriation framework, the paper explores the circumstances whereby technology assumes the meanings and uses assigned to them by the teens. From gaming, social connections, leveraging schoolwork, information and news, family connection, to self-learning and education, the findings foreground the idea of domestication whereby the teens metaphorically tame digital technologies to suit their realities as children in specific contexts. Analysis foregrounds barriers such as digital illiteracy and other factors limiting children's digital development. Recommendations are made on how to improve children's full digital participation in the local context.

Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, 2015

Fundamental to the litany of Africa’s development issues is the crisis of governance. Naturally, ... more Fundamental to the litany of Africa’s development issues is the crisis of governance. Naturally, good governance resonates as a panacea for this situation. In this, the role of the media as the bastion of democracy is indubitable. This article with focus on Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, situates the interplay of good governance and media practices within the media ownership debate. It argues that ownership patterns, pressures and politics have for a long time, challenged the consistent and committed role of the media in deepening our march toward good governance. With clear case studies of media performances in the country overtime, the article contends that the media might not totally be ready to take on the saddle of driving the democratic goals, as a result of influence of ethnic/religious affiliation, political interest/affiliation and economic interest arising from the ownership shackles. The article returns a verdict of collective responsibility – viewing the failings of the media within the larger context of the failings of the social system in which the media are embedded. Keywords: good governance media ownership Nigeria independent media democracy journalists

Journal of African Media Studies, 2021

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has led to unprecedented media coverage globally and in South Af... more The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has led to unprecedented media coverage globally and in South Africa where, at the time of writing, over 20,000 people had died from the virus. This article explores how mainstream print media covered the COVID-19 pandemic during this time of crisis. The news media play a key role in keeping the public informed during such health crises and potentially shape citizens’ perceptions of the pandemic. Drawing on a content analysis of 681 front-page news stories across eleven English-language publications, we found that nearly half of the stories used an alarmist narrative, more than half of the stories had a negative tone, and most publications reported in an episodic rather than thematic manner. Most of the stories focused on impacts of the pandemic and included high levels of sensationalism. In addition, despite the alarmist and negative nature of the reporting, most of the front-page reports did not provide information about ways to limit the spread of...

Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies, 2017

The Nigerian Journal of Communication, 2018

Nigeria has had an interesting and significant conflict and crisis trajectory over the course of ... more Nigeria has had an interesting and significant conflict and crisis trajectory over the course of its existence. This is not far removed from the multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multicultural and multi-political features of the country. While there is no argument about the importance of the media in peace-building, their role has often remained contentious among scholars and this centres around whether the media escalate or de-escalate conflicts and crises. This paper demonstrates that the mainstream media seem not to be living up to the bill of performing its expected role in peace-building. It suggests a number of ways in which the new media might be opening up opportunities that make it possible to manage and resolve conflicts, including the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that can substantially alter the contours of collective violence in developing nations. The study is situated within the Herbamasian framework of the public sphere and interrogates the essence of the new media as a critical sphere in the digital age and in dealing with the question of conflict. The paper calls for peace education imperative and complementarity of both mainstream and alternative media in bridging the media-society-conflict gap.

Journal of African Transformation, 2017

There are numerous critiques of Western liberal democracy and its unfair application to African c... more There are numerous critiques of Western liberal democracy and its unfair application to African contexts. Non-Western and Western scholars in social sciences and communication are challenging the Euro-American ethnocentric concepts in attempts to de-Westernise the established Western-centric theorisations that have characterised research around social phenomena, journalism and development communication in Africa. This study attempts to explore the ways in which development communication practices in a named state government in Nigeria are fanning the flames of a clarion call for the de-westernisation of Western ideals of democracy and good governance. The specific goal is to highlight the particular and dynamic ways that development is being communicated in a local context, as a way of leading assumptions that the idea of evolving African-centric, context-specific development communication strategies is key in enriching the lives of ordinary citizens. The study is qualitative as the authors examined government policy documents, speeches, government events, programs, artefacts such as emblems and logos, and official signifiers such as anthems.The authors applied a qualitative analytical methodology to the texts and material and thus could provide a scholarly evaluation of the significant practices embedded in these, whilst incorporating their own implications for governance and development communication in Africa.

Key Words: development communication, Africa, liberal democracy,
communication strategies, alternative paradigm

This article focuses on a semiotic analysis of Frankenweenie, one of Disney Picture's 3D animated... more This article focuses on a semiotic analysis of Frankenweenie, one of Disney Picture's 3D animated films. Anchored within the psychoanalytic film theory, the aim was to highlight how animated films, as colorful and comic as they are, can demonize a certain group of people. Studying how animated films can do this can lead to an important understanding because children's exposure to modelled behavior on television and in movies has the potential to influence a wide range of attitudes and behaviors , cause victimization, alter their perceptions of reality, reinforce stereotypes and make them acquire such negative emotions as fear and anxiety, and behaviors like retaliation and passivity. The possibility of these adverse effects is even of greater concern in Africa and similar contexts which are at the receiving end of cultural products such as films that emanate from the West. The findings suggest that the negative portrayal of 'people of color' or other characters that represent them, by American film producers and directors seems to be a reoccurring phenomenon. Significantly, from an African perspective, this study corroborates scholars' position that Disney has continued to portray 'people of col-or' negatively over the years.

Privacy on the Internet is a multi-faceted issue that requires attention on the user's part, both... more Privacy on the Internet is a multi-faceted issue that requires attention on the user's part, both to protect information from third-party data collection and to manage personal impressions across a variety of contexts and relationships (Ellison, et al, 2011). This study investigated the notion of online anonymity, as a privacy issue, among young Internet users in Nigeria. Situated within the framework of the deindividuation, uses and gratifications, and technological determinism theories, the research was designed as a survey. A sample of 400 respondents was selected from the study population (which was the undergraduate students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, in SouthEast Nigeria) and a structured questionnaire employed as the data collection instrument. Findings showed that online anonymity is common among a significant part of the users; and that they utilise online anonymity mainly for the purposes of protecting their privacy, shielding themselves against fraud and other Internet harms and abuses, and for fun. Similarly, it was found that while the youths perceive online anonymity as socially beneficial, they at the same time view it as potentially destructive. The study also discovered that anonymity has not had significant impact on the Internet use habit of the respondents. This means that it is not a motivating factor that draws them to the Internet, and that it has neither made them feel free to communicate nor lured majority of them towards communications that are ethically and legally undesirable. The study ultimately contributes to a tradition of research on the dualism of privacy, privilege, and social interaction (Walther, 2011) that online communication has incurred over the times.

IMC Review (Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications), 2015

The advent of the new media and its array of technologies have become a radically transforming de... more The advent of the new media and its array of technologies have become a radically transforming development globally. Definitely, the practice of public relations is also affected by this change in the communication landscape. This paper discusses the implications of the new media for public relations practice as well as the challenges and opportunities they pose to practitioners in Nigeria. It scrutinizes the traditional way of doing public relations in Nigeria before the new media era; the paradigm shift occasioned by the arrival of the new media on the PR scene and the opportunities as well as the challenges which this new era entails for the theory and practice of PR globally and in Nigeria in particular. The paper argues that while the new media have opened up a wide range of opportunities for the contemporary public relations practitioner in Nigeria, harnessing these opportunities entails that the practitioner successfully negotiates through some hurdles which the new media era poses for PR practice in other to play catch-up with the rest of the world.

Keywords: New media, public relations, Internet, Nigeria, challenges, opportunities.

Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies, 2017

Interest in the famous seems to be a human phenomenon that goes as far back as recorded history. ... more Interest in the famous seems to be a human phenomenon that goes as far back as recorded history. In ancient Greece and Rome, people created their gods as very human-like beings, complete with character flaws. Humans often appear captivated by those they see as glamorous. In the contemporary world, this phenomenon is being facilitated by the media. By performing such functions as status-conferral and agenda-setting, they have the power to set agendas on issues and confer status on personalities in the societies in which they are found. Today, young people are exposed, to an immense range of influential figures through television and radio, popular culture, print media and the Internet. Scholars have been led to interrogate how this affects young people, and to broaden the scope of celebrity studies. This study aimed at investigating the impact of celebrity culture on youth, and to determine whether they are affected more by their local or foreign celebrities. Based on the theory that media users can model after figures portrayed in the media, the study drew a sample size of one hundred and eighty undergraduates from Nnamdi Azikiwe Federal University in Awka, Anambra State of Nigeria and surveyed young people between the ages of 17 and 25. Findings suggest that the phenomenon of celebrity culture has become a reality in Nigeria, as young people are exposed for better or for worse to media figures. Furthermore, celebrity lifestyles as portrayed in mainstream and alternative media such as the Internet and satellite TV influence the social attitudes and lifestyles of these youth. Celebrity lifestyles affect their confidence and determination to be successful in life, the way they dress, talk, and handle issues about relationship, marriage and sex. The study contributes a Nigerian perspective to an already existing but scant dialogue on impact of popular culture and media images on the social behaviours and attitudes of young people. The study makes a call for media literacy: the cognitive abilities and critical competencies required for critical analysis and negotiation of media images (for instance, celebrities) circulated across the media.

Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 2015

The growing popularity of the social media has without question brought about a paradigmatic shif... more The growing popularity of the social media has without question brought about a paradigmatic shift in the way advertisers and marketers seek to promote their goods and services and affect the purchasing decisions of their customers and targets. However, research on advertisements positioned on these social networks and the level of awareness, attitude and responsiveness of its users are relatively still developing, especially within the Nigerian context. Because Facebook has, among the various social media, grown exponentially to become the biggest and most popular today, this study thus investigates the level of awareness, attitude and responsiveness to Facebook advertising on the part of Nigerian youths who are believed to be active social media users. Drawing a sample size of 400 from some select universities in South East Nigeria, the survey finds high awareness of Facebook advertising among the youths. However, it was found that in their vicarious experiences with Facebook, these youths experience some "attention challenges" in noticing and observing the ads. Their attitude to the Ads also indicate a cause for worry: even though they fancy and see Facebook Ads as useful, majority of them would not buy the product or visit the website for more or even "Like" products or services liked by their friends. Debunking the Uses-andgratification theory to some extent, the study supports the social cognitive theory of communication and recommends that social media advertisers make their Ads more assertive, eye-catchy, detailed, brief and concise, more visible and more properly positioned, among others.

Critical Arts, 2016

Globalisation often is viewed as negative because of threats to cultural identity, autonomy and i... more Globalisation often is viewed as negative because of threats to cultural identity, autonomy and integrity. Arguably, young people are more susceptible to these threats as they appear to have greater access to multiple media. In recent times, as media globalisation has steadily deepened, celebrity culture has been identified as a growing phenomenon, emerging with the rise in popular culture. The media both glamourise and glorify the lives of celebrities and this, according to research, has surprising influences on the lives of youth. This study examines, in the context of Nigeria, whether celebrity culture is being appropriated by Nigerian youth through their vicarious experiences of the media. A further aim is to establish whether such appropriation has any influence on their social behaviours and attitudes. Drawing respondents from undergraduate students at two universities in Nigeria, and employing qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the study has found that indications are rife of Western celebrity culture being perpetuated by both mainstream and alternative media, and that this is fast catching up with Nigerian youth’s cultural experiences. However, there appears to be an emerging and empowering hybridisation of African and Western cultures, as Nigerian youth negotiate their cultural identities.

*Author has provided link to a free, but limited download of the full paper on Taylor and Francis page. Happy reading and you can get in touch with feedbacks.

Keywords: celebrity culture, globalisation, identity, media, Nigeria, youth

Journal of Communication and Media Research, 2013

Sensationalism epitomized by yellow journalism has been an issue of concern since the 20 th centu... more Sensationalism epitomized by yellow journalism has been an issue of concern since the 20 th century. It was during this period that the call for a socially responsible media became intense because the press was seen to be perpetuating a culture of irresponsibility in the face of the freedom they enjoyed when the libertarian philosophy of the press held sway. Yet, a century later, the media is seen to be reverting back to the same unacceptable, unethical practices. The in-thing is now is " market-driven journalism " – giving priority to trivial news items, certain kinds of layout, headline sizes, photo enhancements, flashy colours, irrelevant and lurid photos that attract mass audiences like entertainment while downplaying information. In the light of these, this paper situates this discourse within the media framing and constructivist theories and attempts to pry apart the connecting issues, the trajectories, the ethical dimensions, and the participants in the blame game of sensationalism. It also situates this in the context of Nigeria using some newspaper headlines and common practices. It however advocates that rather than having a media that 'sells', a media that is socially responsible is exigent in this age that ethics seems to have gone with the wind.

Keywords: good governance
media ownership
Nigeria
independent media
democracy
journalists

Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 2015

This study using a sample size of 400 for survey and 12 focus group participants drawn from the p... more This study using a sample size of 400 for survey and 12 focus group participants drawn from the population of a federal University in Nigeria, investigated the practicality of thinking about social media as online public sphere that offers Nigerian youth opportunity for meaningful civic engagement and agenda setting. It investigates the level of access and social media literacy inherent in these youth, the uses they make of it, the extent of exposure and use and whether these translate into a culture of social transformation among these youth. Using the Uses-and-gratifications and public sphere theories, the study combined the use of survey and focus group discussions. The study finds that the level of awareness, exposure and use of Facebook among these youth is quite high. It is however found that the youth tend to make more personal, trivial and entertaining use of Facebook. The youth’s social media usage thus disengages rather than makes for active engagement with their expected role in social transformation and development. The youth, with reasons, have never used Facebook or indeed any other social media to advocate or win support for a cause geared towards social change or social development of the society. It is concluded that Nigerian youth should be challenged to embrace serious online activism through the positive, prudent, informed, literate, and better appropriated use of the social media as both a socialisation and an empowering tool.

Journal of Communication and Media Research, 2015

This paper examined the use of new digital media of mobile phones as a tool for political campaig... more This paper examined the use of new digital media of mobile phones as a
tool for political campaign by candidates of a keenly-contested election of
the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nnamdi Azikiwe
University, Awka Chapter in Nigeria. Critical linguistics and critical
discourse analysis were employed to analyse the denotative and
connotative meanings, the language used and their ethical implications.
Findings show that the messages were framed in ways that thinly disguised
their ideological intents. Most texts showed gender-sensitivity but were
barely civil, replete with grammatical errors, were dramatic and used selfpromoting
languages, especially about candidates’ suitability for the
positions sought. Based on the findings, the authors call for a conscious
adoption of appropriate ‘techno-ethics’ in the use of digital technology in
political communication.
Key Words: New Media, Political Campaigns, Ethics, Mobile Phones,
Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU).

Global Media Journal African Edition, 2013

Discourses on democracy in Africa often revolve around the relevance of Western democracy to Afr... more Discourses on democracy in Africa often revolve around the relevance of Western democracy
to African nations given the region’s peculiar socio-economic and cultural conditions (Ezeani,
2013). In many African countries, evidence abounds of the absence of democratic dividends, an
indicator of the apparent failure of liberal democracy in the region. The media as the fourth
estate of the realm is often seen, albeit idealistically, as being positioned to rise above
democratic failures and, in its watchdog roles, to work towards the enthronement of good
governance. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, the environment within which the media operates vis-àvis
the ownership structures has continuously posed stoic challenges to its expected roles. The
result is continuous dilemmatic practices, whereby the media’s position as bastion of democracy
is consistently negotiated. This article, with exemplars from the Nigerian media scene over the
years, x-rays the stoic challenges which media ownership poses to Nigerian society as the nation
works towards development through good governance. It argues that ownership patterns,
pressures and politics continue to challenge the consistent and committed role of the media in
deepening our march towards good democratic governance. The article, however, concludes that
rather than heaping the blame on the media, one could more safely return a verdict of collective
responsibility – viewing the failings of the media within the larger context of the failings of the
social system in which the media are embedded. Such thinking invariably points to the fact that
various stakeholders other than the media have a role to play in enthroning good governance in
the Nigerian polity.
Keywords: good governance, development, media ownership, Nigeria, democracy, challenges

Covenant Journal of Communication , 2013

Since Living in Bondage in 1992, Nigeria‟s Nollywood, like such other social institutions as educ... more Since Living in Bondage in 1992, Nigeria‟s Nollywood, like such other social institutions as education, government and religion, has continued to generate knowledge and popular discourses about issues and social groups in the country. Youth is one social group that the Nigerian filmmakers have focussed on in recent times. Since discourses in any social formation are never value-free and are social constructs that mingle with power, crucial questions need to be asked regarding the whys and wherefores of Nollywood‟s popular discourses of youth, forms of knowledge, meaning, modes of realization and implications of the images of youth the Nigerian video film industry is generating and putting out. To achieve this, the paper uses critical discourse analysis to analyse a sample of three feature Nigerian films starring Osita Iheme and Chinedu Ikedieze. The aim is to direct attention to some of the ways that the films as popular discourses and social imaginations of youth help to perpetuate negative images of youth as well as to highlight their complicity in the demonization and subordination of youth in the Nigerian society. Key words: Nollywood, Youth, Popular culture, Critical Discourse Analysis, Moral panic, Ideological analysis.

The African Journal of Information and Communication, 2023

International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning, 2022

Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, 2015

Journal of African Media Studies, 2021

Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies, 2017

The Nigerian Journal of Communication, 2018

Journal of African Transformation, 2017

Key Words: development communication, Africa, liberal democracy,
communication strategies, alternative paradigm

IMC Review (Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications), 2015

Keywords: New media, public relations, Internet, Nigeria, challenges, opportunities.

Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies, 2017

Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 2015

Critical Arts, 2016

*Author has provided link to a free, but limited download of the full paper on Taylor and Francis page. Happy reading and you can get in touch with feedbacks.

Keywords: celebrity culture, globalisation, identity, media, Nigeria, youth

Journal of Communication and Media Research, 2013

Keywords: good governance
media ownership
Nigeria
independent media
democracy
journalists

Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 2015

Journal of Communication and Media Research, 2015

Global Media Journal African Edition, 2013

Covenant Journal of Communication , 2013

Communication and Media Studies: Multiple Perspectives, 2020

Given the growing importance, affordances and power of digital media, it is important for student... more Given the growing importance, affordances and power of digital media, it is important for students of media and communication studies to be abreast with the constantly evolving concepts, knowledge, literacies and practices associated with the new media. The terms 'New media', 'Digital media' and 'Digital technology' are used synonymously and interchangeably throughout this chapter to refer to what the chapter conceptualises as 'digital communication technologies'. For the purposes of this chapter, we settle on 'digital communication technologies' because of the need to focus more on the communicative aspects of the digital or new media, rather than on just the infrastructural or technical aspects of same. At the end of this chapter, students will be able to identify with the new or digital media technology as a distinct field of knowledge, unpack relevant terminologies associated with it, and have a grasp of some basic concepts such as those related to the Internet, mobile media technology, social media, social networking sites, and other aspects of the digital communication media, especially as they relate to Africa broadly, and Nigeria in particular. Beyond this, the chapter will expose students to the uses and abuses of digital communication technologies, in addition to some of the digital practices and contemporary trends associated with our digital society.

Social Media and Elections in Africa, Volume 2, 2020

During the 2015 General Election in Nigeria, satirical images and memes were disseminated across ... more During the 2015 General Election in Nigeria, satirical images and memes were disseminated across social media, comprising both real life and cartooned images of mainly the two key presidential election aspirants. This research, firstly through semiotic analysis, deconstructs the meanings embedded within the images, and maps how they shaped discourses during the election and possibly after it. Secondly, through focus group interviews, the study explores the dominant readings given to the images and how much they influenced people’s opinions regarding the electoral process and its key actors. The study extends understanding of political communication by providing a more nuanced overview of how we may attach meanings to transgressive, user-generated political memes that had the potential to ‘take a life of their own’ and to generate polysemic meanings.

From the earliest days of colonial rule, post-independence through the military era to the curren... more From the earliest days of colonial rule, post-independence through the military era to the current democratic dispensation, the relationship between the government and the media in Nigeria has continued to raise contentions, concerns and issues. Academics, media watchers and many others have described the relationship between the media, government and its political cohorts as being tantamount to ‘cat and mouse’, ‘bitter-sweet’, ‘intimate strangers’ and ‘carrot-and-stick’ kind of experience. This situation exists despite the media being adjudged as a powerful rallying point between the leaders and the led; serving as integral part of political life; providing society with information they need to make rational political decisions concerning their existence and of course being dubbed the “Fourth Estate of the Realm” after the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary arms of government. This paper therefore attempts to give focus to this relationship, adopting a historical approach to show how the Nigerian media and government have fared since the colonial and Independence days, offering critical ways in which the government has posed a menacing threat to media existence and the ways media cause government to view it as ‘fifth wheel’. The review of these issues as seen in this paper offers a perfect backgrounding for the next preoccupation of this paper: rethinking the significant roles the Nigerian media can play in engendering good governance in the Nigerian nation and ultimately in helping to deepen our fledgling democracy. Indeed the time has come, the paper concludes, for the Nigerian government and the media to adopt the widely acclaimed global international relations principle: ‘no permanent friends, no permanent foes, only permanent interests’.

New Media and African Society, 2018

This chapter engages with the “wheel” that currently drives Anambra developmental movement, conce... more This chapter engages with the “wheel” that currently drives Anambra developmental movement, conceptualised as the “Anambra Wheel of Development” and discusses the communication strategies being used by the government in communicating development, bringing governance closer to the people and facilitating the participation of people in developmental activities. What stands out very significantly is the notion of participatory development – a process where residents of the State are not just given a voice, but equally influence and share control over development initiatives that affect them. The chapter espouses the various strategies deployed in communicating development in the State - from self-image rebranding, secure and safe society, creating avenue for unheard voices, active selfinvolvement, Stakeholders Forum, Anambra Square, to Choose-your-project initiative, among others. Social media also play a critical role in the multidimensional communication among development actors for meaningful engagement. The chapter argues that sustainable development could be achieved when leaders and change agents engage in meaningful conversations on development agendas through multiple channels of communication and with multiple audiences.

Cite as: Omenugha, KA, Uzuegbunam, CE, & Eze, J. (2018). Communicating ‘Anambra Wheel of Development’ through Participatory Approaches and Social Media Strategies. In K.A. Omenugha, A. Fayoyin & C. Ngugi (Eds.), New Media and African Society (pp.197 – 212). Kenya: Nairobi Academic Press

In Book: Exploring Political and Gender Relations, 2017

This study, in the context of Nigeria, looks not only at the level of access and exposure of yout... more This study, in the context of Nigeria, looks not only at the level of access and exposure of youth, but also the extent to which these youth are using Facebook to engender socio-political change in their social milieux. The study lends itself to a contemporary version of Jürgen Habermas’ public sphere theory that conceptualizes an online-based but complicated communication space where concerned members of the society could gather in a virtual world and exchange opinions regarding public affairs and deliberate sometimes in a critical and analytical manner.

The advent of the new media as an offshoot of the Internet has brought about a shift from the fir... more The advent of the new media as an offshoot of the Internet has brought about a shift from the first Web 1.0 to a new one. In a report titled ‘The Participative Web and User-Created Content’, the OECD (2007) describes the rise and growth of a new type of intelligent Internet services which have enabled users to share, adapt and create content. These ‘new’ services are commonly labelled as social media and Web 2.0 (Verdegem, 2011, p.32). Web 2.0 simply stated is the technical name for the modern Internet. Coined by Tim O’Reilly in 2005, the term “Web 2.0” is a name for the evolution of Internet-based communications. From the foregoing, it is clear that the social media has become a key part of the New Media. The coming of the new (social) media on the communication scene has opened up the third phase of the Internet revolution consisting of email/computer systems and the arrival of the Web. Social media thus is still the newest and most celebrated communication and technological innovation today.Its diffusion and use have been growing dramatically, the world over. Suffice it to say that it is helping to make real the idea of a “global village”, first theorised by Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s. This chapter is aimed at offering a concise overview of the new (social) media, its definition, and scope, its categorisations and varied uses; why it is regarded as social; its popular forms, as well as tips on becoming an effective social media savvy individual. As an introductory treatise on the subject matter, it is hoped that students will be better positioned to grasp the nitty-gritty of the concept of the social media in the end.

The Power of the Media in Health Communication. Edited by Valentina Marinescu & Bianca Mitu, 2016

This study investigates the media coverage of one of the most threatening and publicized disease... more This study investigates the media coverage of one of the most threatening and publicized disease outbreaks in parts of Africa particularly Nigeria and Liberia, between 2014 and 2015. The study focuses on two Nigerian most widely read newspapers and engages with questions of salience/prominence, framing, etc

Health is a contested concept that has been defined in numerous ways. The media is extremely powe... more Health is a contested concept that has been defined in numerous ways. The media is extremely powerful in promoting health beliefs and in creating role models for contemporary people. The ways in which health is defined or understood can have wide-ranging implications and can have an impact on issues such as health promotion or health literacy. Health presentation in the media has a significant social impact because this type of message is important in changing people's beliefs, attitudes and behaviours relating to health and in promoting health-related knowledge among the target audience. The present volume provides an interdisciplinary and multicultural contemporary approach to the controversial link between medicine and media. The authors that have contributed to this volume analyse the media and medicine from different perspectives and different countries (USA, UK, Portugal, Turkey, Nigeria, Taiwan, Mexico, Estonia, Romania), thus offering a re-positioning of the study of media and medicine. The new perspectives offered by this volume will be of interest to any health communication or media studies student or academic since they bring to light new ideas, new methodologies and new results.

Journal of African Media Studies, 2021

London School of Economics and Political Science, 2019

My four-year doctoral study into the digital practices of teens in South-East and North-Central N... more My four-year doctoral study into the digital practices of teens in South-East and North-Central Nigeria found that Nigerian teens rely extensively on the mobile phone and the mobile internet for social connectivity, and social media is a decisive factor for the children’s happiness, relief from stress and boredom, and for managing mental health. Yet teens still lack proper support in developing digital skills and avoiding risk online

The Conversation, 2020

My three-year study of rural and urban teenagers in Nigeria aimed to investigate how they access,... more My three-year study of rural and urban teenagers in Nigeria aimed to investigate how they access, understand, work and play with the digital technologies that are available to them. The study also paid attention to the contextual factors and digital gatekeepers in the children’s lives, including parents, guardians and teachers. The fieldwork was conducted from 2017 with schoolchildren aged 13 to 18 in mostly public schools in the South East and North Central parts of the country. A total of 175 schoolchildren took part in focus group interviews and 430 participated in a survey.

The Journalist, South Africa, 2018

As a scholar who is deeply interested in children and the media broadly – and intersection of chi... more As a scholar who is deeply interested in children and the media broadly – and intersection of children and digital technology as a point of departure – it has always been disconcerting to notice that within academic conferences organised in the continent and in the field of media and communication, little attention is paid to the theme of children and the media or children and digital media.

SOCIAL media has given us a false sense of connectedness and we have fallen for it. Our social in... more SOCIAL media has given us a false sense of connectedness and we have fallen for it. Our social interactions have been reduced to mere likes, hearts, views and comments that do not hold much meaning. When the chips are down, many people are depressed and lonely, their humanity distorted by the wrong things. Several online behaviours point to our humanity being sold cheaply: many people are hiding behind their smartphones to harass, intimidate, fight and compete with others. Facebook, Instagram, blogs, YouTube, Twitter and WhatsApp sap our energy. They make us judgmental and eat our time. They reach for our souls and turn us into something we’re not. Unchecked social media use might engender negative outcomes such as depression, detachment, identity crisis, body image problems, feelings of inadequacy, narcissism, laziness, anxiety and unproductivity.

Intro by the Blogger: In 2017, Chikezie Uzuegbunam was named one of the 100 Brightest Young Mind... more Intro by the Blogger:

In 2017, Chikezie Uzuegbunam was named one of the 100 Brightest Young Minds in Africa. He also gave a TED Talk to top Business Executives/Communicators in the 2017 edition of the MasterClass conference by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC, Africa Region).These recognitions came as no surprise because the 30-year-old’s numerous research works have been published by such renowned publishers as Routledge, Taylor & Francis, Intellect and Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Chikezie, who was Best Student in Media and Communication at every previous level of study (diploma, bachelor’s and master’s degrees), is currently a doctoral scholar and teaching assistant at the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Film and Media Studies. He is also a lecturer at the Mass Communication Department of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.

In view of the foregoing, I requested that he share with my readers his Academic Success Principles and he graciously obliged. What we, therefore, have in this guest post are not ideas borrowed from here and there but standards that have actually worked for Chikezie in his own endeavours. As expected, his writing is lucid and engaging. You will also find more than a few profound quotes in it. It is long but I was loath to break up such a beautiful and important piece into parts. I am confident that this post will be a great blessing not only to students and teachers at all levels but to others who desire success in fields beyond academics.

A whale of thanks to Chikezie. May God continue to take him higher and use him to bless many in Jesus’ name. More information about him is available at the end of this post. Do join the discussion after reading and kindly share the post on various social media to benefit others.

Men themselves must also be true to themselves, be honest and open about their insecurities and b... more Men themselves must also be true to themselves, be honest and open about their insecurities and begin to share their stories, says the writer.

Voices 360, 2017

Several researches by psychologists and sociologists have documented the lived experiences of man... more Several researches by psychologists and sociologists have documented the lived experiences of many men who suffered neglect and insecurities related to contact with women and with fellow men, and how this, and other cagey masculinities, have driven them to become monsters, unhappy, and lacking in empathy. There is equally research evidence that links traditional notions of masculinity to early stress-related diseases, unhappiness, and violence in boys and men. Many men hide their feelings behind work, alcohol, drugs, sex, the applause of other people, accomplishments, and hobbies. But the truth is: Men need help.

Voices 360, 2017

These are a few of the stories of men who are undergoing unknown suffering and dying in silence. ... more These are a few of the stories of men who are undergoing unknown suffering and dying in silence. Men are increasingly being crushed under the overbearing weight of masculinity with little or no room for respite because society traps many men in its idealistic, false, and hypocritical sense of maleness and patriarchy —one that makes it difficult to be anything but “strong”, “macho”, “manly”, “brave”, “wise”, “successful”. Masculinity is those problematic and traditional set of characteristics, behavioural patterns and societal expectations associated with men and boys. From birth, men are told to “man up”, to “stop behaving like a girl”. They are taught to believe men don’t cry. They are forced to constantly wonder if they are “man enough”, or successful enough, or the major breadwinner in their families. Many men do not have the privilege women have to vent the frustrations they experience in their homes, workplaces and similar spaces.

Cape Argus (Independent Media, 2017

‘A lie can run around the world before the truth has got its shoes on”. - Jonathan Swift. In the ... more ‘A lie can run around the world before the truth has got its shoes on”. - Jonathan Swift.
In the digital age, this statement from the 17th century has become a self-fulfilling prophesy. I am Nigerian. During the xenophobic attacks in South Africa between 2015 and 2017, I, like many others, had to rely on the often overblown social media accounts of these attacks to frame my judgments about South Africa and South Africans. I came to South Africa last year to begin my doctoral studies at the University of Cape Town, bringing my baggage of fears, doubts, insecurities and preconceived notions. However, I found that I may have been unwittingly fed inaccurate stories of these attacks. I found that as a focused post-graduate student or academic in South Africa, you can live in peace and enjoy amazing opportunities. I found that there are young Nigerian men who do illegal businesses here, top of which is drug dealing. I learnt that it takes two to tango. I found that the videos and images we see on social media were often fake, and not actually emanating from SA but from elsewhere in Africa where there was violence.

Voices360 - online thought-leadership platform, 2017

Fake news syndrome is a phenomenon which became a scholarly concept in critique of media landscap... more Fake news syndrome is a phenomenon which became a scholarly concept in critique of media landscape, from 2016 as a result of the controversies which trailed the recent US Presidential election and other political events in Europe. We haven’t forgotten how fake news surreptitiously favoured Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton and the subsequent rise of populism and post-truth in democratic contexts in different parts of the world. Contexts in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotions. Of course, fake news in whatever platform they emerge, are often emotionalised and satirised. However, although the concept seems new given its use in public discourse and media commentary in recent times, the notion of fake news has been there from earliest times during which period satirical television news were popular in various climes.Today, the term is being used to describe: completely fabricated information, deceptive content, as well as distortion of news reports across online spaces particularly; pushed out by Internet trolls with vested interests. Indeed, the digital era and the resultant ubiquitous nature of technology has exacerbated the syndrome of fake news. Facebook and Twitter and other bogus web and news sites have risen in their popularity for pushing the syndrome and thereby raising moral panics about the impact of this phenomenon on society, democracies and even businesses.

Academic excellence is not a congenital trait (hereditary) – it cannot be inherited. Academic exc... more Academic excellence is not a congenital trait (hereditary) – it cannot be inherited. Academic excellence is more than just achieving good grades; also maximum development of your intellectual capacities and skills
There is no one way of achieving excellence academically; God’s wisdom comes handy here. Academic excellence comes with a price. Only those who understand its worth can pay for it. Life is an arable land
Cultivate good seeds that will grow and flourish tomorrow to give you food, comfort and succour. What you plant in this land today, guarantees what you reap tomorrow. Whatever you sow is what you reap.Being excellence in all you do is a seed that you can sow at every stage of your life. Sow good seeds today, and stay alive for tomorrow!

In Nigeria May 29 is the day we celebrate our democracy, National Democracy Day. May 29 2015 mark... more In Nigeria May 29 is the day we celebrate our democracy, National Democracy Day. May 29 2015 marked 16 years of this annual celebration and coincided with the inauguration ceremony of a new government for Nigeria, making it especially signifi¸cant. Nigeria is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-cultural, multilingual and of course, multi-party polity with over 165 million people. To put that into perspective, the country has about 250 ethnic groups with as many different languages and something close to 30 political parties to boast of, and is the most populous country in Africa. Nigeria's advances towards democracy and independence has been characterized by told and untold stories of inter-ethnic wars, religious, cultural and political discriminations and most recently, terrorism epitomized by the Boko Haram insurgency, all taking their toll on our peace and national development.

Attitudes around race, especially stereotypes we hold about 'other' races, genders, sexualities, ... more Attitudes around race, especially stereotypes we hold about 'other' races, genders, sexualities, nationalities, ethnicities, classes etc. are more real than we care to admit. Whenever we come face to face with these 'others', we ᢌnd ourselves unwittingly behaving towards them with preconceived ideas lurking in our minds. I guess it's only human. I was recently in South Africa where I was a Visiting Student and keen participant at a summer school. It was a two-week programme scheduled to oᣄer participants from around the world the opportunity to take a course focused on Africa and African issues.

A newspaper srticle reflecting on strategies for resolving conflict between government and academ... more A newspaper srticle reflecting on strategies for resolving conflict between government and academic protest group in Nigeria

A short autobiographical narrative reflecting on my academic journey in 2016

While it is normal and quite innocent to sympathise with France’s current predicament, what is no... more While it is normal and quite innocent to sympathise with France’s current predicament, what is not is the underlying ideological undertone to all of this and for which many people are unaware. Soft Power tools such as this are subtle and laden with varied meanings. Soft power is a concept used to explain a modern way of maintaining control over unsuspecting minor races and economies by the so-called more economically and politically powerful entities. And what is more interesting for me is the fact that this is going on via the digital space – the Internet.

Writing about Nigeria's past experiences and her future possibilities as she recently clocked fif... more Writing about Nigeria's past experiences and her future possibilities as she recently clocked fifty, sounds an easy one, but as I sit down to put it in black and white, it dawns suddenly on me that the assignment is a daunting one. This may be partly so because Nigeria is a country of paradoxes: a country abundantly blessed with natural and human resources which unfortunately remain largely untapped and mismanaged; a country with obviously great potentials and opportunities for self improvement but which has rather remained in doldrums with a chequered past and a seemingly doubtful future.

AIDS is not just a serious threat to our social development; it is a real threat to our very exis... more AIDS is not just a serious threat to our social development; it is a real threat to our very existence. AIDS has reduced many families to the status of beggars and no family… remains untouched by the suffering and death caused by AIDS. The real solution of the spread of AIDS lies in each and every one of us."

SAFM | MORNING TALK: Should gender roles define how we treat each other in the world and why do w... more SAFM | MORNING TALK: Should gender roles define how we treat each other in the world and why do we not allow men to be who they are? Focus: Chikezie Uzuegbunam defines what masculinity means and how we should go about addressing negative issues associated with it. He says we need to remake manhood with a renewed understanding-with empathy, knowledge and a consciousness that allows an exploration of men's humanity and softer edges. Guest: Chikezie Uzuegbunam is a doctoral scholar and teaching assistant at the Centre for Film and Media, University of Cape Town.

of its young lecturers for a two-week training in China.

This year's SACOMM conference entitled "Locating the power of communication in a time of radical ... more This year's SACOMM conference entitled "Locating the power of communication in a time of radical change", was hosted in conjunction with the Highway Africa conference, at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, 30 August-2 September. The aim was to encourage collaboration between media and communication researchers and practitioners.

Chikezie Uzuegbunam, a second-year doctoral student at the Centre for Film and Media Studies, Uni... more Chikezie Uzuegbunam, a second-year doctoral student at the Centre for Film and Media Studies, University of Cape Town has just been selected and named one of 100 Brightest Young Minds in Africa by an international leadership development organisation, Brightest Young Minds (BYM) headquartered in South Africa. The organisation identifies, connects and mobilises Africa's most innovative and responsible young people, and gathers them from around the continent to train, mentor and empower them to become change agents as next generation of African leaders in their

Chikezie Uzuegbunam was at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Nigeria when he applied for a travel gran... more Chikezie Uzuegbunam was at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Nigeria when he applied for a travel grant to attend IAMCR 2016 in Leicester but has since relocated to complete a PhD at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Leicester was his second IAMCR conference and in this article he talks about what IAMCR and the travel grants have meant to him and his career. He presented in the Emerging Scholars Section.

Nine UCT students and alumni including CHIKEZIE UZUEGBUNAM have started their journey as part of ... more Nine UCT students and alumni including CHIKEZIE UZUEGBUNAM have started their journey as part of top 100 of the continent's Brightest Young Minds. Photo Imanka via Flickr. Brightest Young Minds (BYM) is a 17-year old non-profit organisation, whose mission is to create a positive social impact by identifying, connecting and mobilising 100 high-impact leaders and go-getters between the ages of 20 and 35 from across the African continent. This year the organisation received a total of 1 700 applicants. These 100 innovative and impactful young people are brought together to attend a week-long leadership summit in Johannesburg, which is hosted by the BYM Group and is sponsored by ABSA/Barclays Africa Group. The summit, which took place from 24 to 29 September, was aptly themed: " VUCA: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity ". It featured leadership sessions and workshops delivered by guest speakers and key facilitators drawn from the political, academic, business and corporate sectors. The hallmark event of the summit had delegates in groups of 10 brainstorming innovative, practical and sustainable solutions to some of the continent's social, economic and human developmental challenges. The summit ended with a gala dinner that marked the formal induction of the delegates into the BYM alumni network.

This chronicles the travel experiences from the scholar's international trips to conferences and ... more This chronicles the travel experiences from the scholar's international trips to conferences and academic businesses.

The African journal of information and communication, Jun 30, 2023

Journal of African Media Studies, Sep 1, 2021

Motivations for Sharing Misinformation 1201 more pervasive across the continent. Researchers have... more Motivations for Sharing Misinformation 1201 more pervasive across the continent. Researchers have shown that perceived exposure to false information is high in some African countries, and yet citizens often share made-up news intentionally. This article explores the motivations and contributing factors for sharing misinformation in six sub-Saharan African countries. Our analysis of 12 focus groups with university students reveals two common motivations: civic duty and fun. The sharing of political (dis)information was uneven, but common among students with high levels of self-reported political engagement. We also present an array of cues used to determine credibility, which often determines the shareability of information. Crossnational differences are also discussed.

Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies, Apr 1, 2021

The media, including popular media such as music and films, often generate conversations about di... more The media, including popular media such as music and films, often generate conversations about different spectrums of society. Due to an overabundance of imagery and sounds from the media, including television, film, advertising, social media and the internet, audiences are constantly bombarded with stereotypes and ideologies about other races and identities. As an exponentially growing popular culture industry, Nollywood ‐ the Nigerian movie industry ‐ positions itself as a source of knowledge and popular discourse about issues emanating from the continent and other places. With this growth, Nollywood seems to have been given a spot in the political circle of identity politics, giving it the power to represent the ‘Others’. This study interrogates the theme of identity construction in African films by focusing on the ways in which some select Nollywood films of the early and late 2000s and early 2010s frame and construct foreign races and foreign societies, using critical ideological analysis and the framework of critical race theory. Representations and portrayals of difference in the analysed movies could be serving some ‘revenge’ of sorts, transgressing age-long representations of Black people in Blaxploitation films. The multiplex representations as seen in the analyses serve the primary purpose of such stereotypes: to reproduce and to reaffirm prejudices that over time become naturalized and normalized. The study thematically specifies the significant use of labels, stereotypes and certain orthodoxies that aim to frame and characterize foreign societies in popular Nigerian films and suggests some broader implications of the findings.

New Media & Society, 2020

should equip themselves to grapple with bewildering change in the modern media sensorium. Wilson’... more should equip themselves to grapple with bewildering change in the modern media sensorium. Wilson’s deeply informed choice of a hermeneutic approach that remains fully attentive to technological complexity (for example Twitter and YouTube) is very welcome at a time when Big Data approaches seem to hold all the cards in the social sciences. There remain some questions that the book leaves unanswered. The first concerns socalled non-representational approaches to media (Moores, 2018). While only mentioned in passing, this potentially links Wilson’s hermeneutics to work elsewhere in the social sciences, for example by Nigel Thrift. Wilson (p. 8) glosses ‘non-representational’ not as a lack of interest in how texts represent reality, but a rejection of Western philosophy’s dominant separation of knowing from acting, that is ‘truth’ from practice. Where does this leave our actual practices of interpreting the representations that texts and images still offer of the world? Can media research safely exclude such practices? It is striking that Wilson’s extensive bibliography makes no mention of Hall or the semiotics tradition. Second, while Wilson acknowledges the challenge of algorithmic forces shaping practice (p. ix, 144), more reflection would have been useful on whether an algorithmically shaped world is compatible with the entirely humanistic ontology of hermeneutics and, if not, how hermeneutics needs to adjust, something I have discussed elsewhere (Couldry and Hepp, 2016: chapter 7). Third, and relatedly, where is power in all this? A leading proponent of practice theory, Schatzki, has a notoriously flat view of the social world, built up entirely from the micro-orders of particular practices. Can this help us understand a world of platforms and vast infrastructures of data extraction? What are the consequence for Wilson’s ‘hermeneutic practices theory’ if Schatzki’s flat view of social power, whose limitations Wilson himself notes, must be abandoned? That it raises such broad questions is testament to what a stimulating intervention into contemporary thinking about media practice Tony Wilson has made.