ASSESSMENT OF THE CIRCULATION AND READERSHIP OF UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT NEWS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the study

         In every society, communication is very relevant for human relations. It is the exchange of information from one person to the other. Communication is the act of conveying intended meaning from one person or group to another through the use of mutually understandable signs and semiotic rules. The importance for man to know what is happening in his environment makes him to source for information in other to be updated, to help him/her make an informed decisions. One major way of getting information is through news.  

        News is an account of an event that is current and of interest to the members of the public. Udoudo (2013) states that, on a daily basis newspaper, radio and television stations across the globe release million of words and numerous photographs to illustrate the words for the purpose of disseminating information. Orlu-Orlu (2013) defines news as the accurate account or report of an event occurrence happening that is of public interest. News is an account of an event that is current and of interest to the members of the public. News is circulated through different mass media channels such as radio, television, newspaper, magazine, billboards and handbills among others.

        An organizations or corporation disseminate news worthy information in order to maintain goodwill acceptance and cooperation with its publics. Most corporate organizations use the public relations department as a means of generating and disseminating news inorder to build a relationship between the organization and its publics. According to Nwachukwu and Agbo (2014) public relations is a planned and sustained effort of an organization to create and maintain favourable relationship between the organization and its various publics. The aim of public relations is to build mutual understanding between the organization and all those who are affected by the organization activities. Effective public relations is achieved through publicity.

        Public relations is used by most tertiary institutions to create awareness about programmes and to pass information to students and members of staff on new policies in the institution and also to create a positive perception of the school to the general public. Public relations thrive on consistent and persistent communication through various mass media channels. Most tertiary institutions use the public relations Department to pass out important information. Public relations is aimed at building internal and external goodwill on the reasonable assumption that these are strongly needed for an organization to remain in business and make profit with the increase in the activities of tertiary institutions the need for an adequate communication between the institution management and the students is very important. The public relations of most institutions use memos, circulars, notice boards and news bulletins to circulate or disseminate information. It is expected that such messages get to the target audience. The University of Port Harcourt uses its public relations Department to reach out to students, staff and its various public.

1.2    Statement of Problem

        One of the reasons for the establishment of the public relations Department in any organization is to promote the programmes and activities of that organization both internally and externally by passing out information through a communication channel and also creating a lasting relationship among staff and students in tertiary institutions by communicating with them and sharing their thoughts. The public relations Department also promote a good relationship between the organization and its publics, on this basis is the reason for the establishment of the Uniport weekly news by the public relations Department of the University of Port Harcourt. But it have been observed that the Uniport weekly bulletin only cares about the public image of the school which can be seen in the content of the bulletin. The public relations Department only publish news that is of benefit to the school and this affects the readership of the weekly bulletin by the students and staff of the school. Only 1000 copies of the Uniport weekly bulletin is produce weekly, that is made available only to the well known and high placed members of staff of the University, due to this, most staff and students do not get the bulletin at their disposal. This also affect the readership of the bulletin.

        It is against this background that the researcher seeks to assess the circulation and readership of the Uniport weekly bulletin.

1.3   Aim and Objectives of the study

This study will seek to;

     1.            find out if University of Port Harcourt students read Uniport weekly

     2.            determine ways by which news is circulated in Uniport.

     3.            know their perception towards uniport weekly news.

1.4         Research questions

This study will attempt to answer the following questions:

     1.            Do University of Port Harcourt students read news?

     2.            What ways does news circulate in University of Port Harcourt?

     3.            What are their perception towards Uniport weekly news?

1.5   Significance of the study

        This study will be of immense benefit to the school authority as it serves as an exposure to know if Uniport weekly newspaper is useful in their news as well as know the perception of students of the University about the publication.

        It will be of immense benefit to the school authority as it will enable them know how news is being disseminated among students and how information gets to them.

        This study is also beneficial to future researchers in that it provides adequate data for further studies. This work will also help the public relations Department  improve upon the content.

1.6      Scope of the study

        This study covers only the students in the University of Port Harcourt and the weekly Uniport newspaper.

1.7       Limitations of the study

        The limitations or factors that would have hindered the outcome of this study include: Limited finance to carryout the work and the search of materials for this study, an appeal to the respondents for the sincerity of their responses and an explanation of the purpose for which their responses to the question in the questionnaire were sought.

1.8.          Definition of terms

Circulation: In this study is the way students receive news and how it is being circulated among them.

News: In this study is about current events provided through Uniport weekly newspaper.

Newspaper Readership: This is the sum total, aggregate of all the people who read the newspaper.

Newspaper: This is a daily or weekly publication that comes in folded, loosed broad sheets, containing news, articles and advertisement usually printed on low quality paper called news prints.

Public relations: This is a planned and sustained effort of an organization to create and maintain favourable relationship between the organization and its various publics. 

Readership: The number or group of people who read a particular newspaper or magazine.

Students: These are people who attend school, college or University.