Infographics, New Media and Media Consumption Habits in Nigeria
Paper by RISJ Journalist Fellow
Abstract:
Informational graphics or visual representations of information and its blend with other new media tools are now used by journalists and media houses all over the world to support their work. With changing lifestyles in a world of information overload, journalists and media houses are now inclined to process data and information that make news quickly and easier using infographics which come to consumers in a short, clear and virtually attractive manner. Additionally, with charts, graphs, pictograms and other visual tools, consumers could be more engaged and may be more likely to repeatedly get news from media sources that use them in news reports. Using infographics and new media tools such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to report business, political and economic news in quick and clear forms is now an established practice in developed media systems such as in the West, but this has just begun to gain traction in the Nigerian media space.
Against this background, this study engages in a comparative analysis of the history, importance, and benefits of infographics, in general, and in the media, in particular in Nigeria. It looks at the history of the Nigerian press, as well as the scale of use of infographics and new media tools in communicating business stories in the country by its journalists. It also measures the level of approval of this new trend in the Nigerian journalism space.