Selfies, Communications and Female Students Self– Presentation in Social Network Sites (SNS)

The paper seeks to uncover how the three pronged dynamics of culture, personality and religion have shaped the 3W’s and H namely What, Why, Where and How in relation to selfie utilization and self-presentation on Social Networking Sites (SNS). Using quantitative  (descriptive survey) rather than the “usual” qualitative approaches used by researchers in the area of selfie studies, this paper examines many variables that highlighted novel undercurrents in the use of selfie by female university students. A total of 370 female students of the University of Uyo were surveyed and another 350 – student member study group was created on SNS to aggregate their views on why they engage in selfies and possible satisfaction from such engagement. The findings reveal that selfie posting by female university student are driven more by personality (59%) and religious orientations (14%) rather than culture (5%),this paper also reveals that female students who engaged in selfiedidso forself-presentation and self-fulfilment. In essence,this paper argues that selfie use on SNSs is not motivated by sociocultural or national issues but by students moods, self - actualisation, and as a way to present preferred self  and image on the SNSs. These, the paper concludes, are disconnected from socio economic cum cultural realities that people hope youths should engage in their SocialNetwork Sites interaction.. Keywords: Social Network Site (SNS), self-presentation, communication, selfieand  students

Nigerian Press Coverage of the 2015 Elections: What has Ownership Got to Do with It?

If ownership can make a critical difference in media coverage of issues, then the interesting spectacle in Nigeria where new wave of politicians now establish media houses should result in distinctive journalistic patterns in salient areas especially in the coverage of political events. This study was therefore aimed at examining how four Nigerian newspapers with two ownership structures covered the 2015 elections in Nigeria. The Vanguard and The Guardian newspapers (owned by businessmen) and The Sun and The Nation newspapers (owned by politicians) were analysed. The scope of the study was between December 2014 to April 2015, and 6398 stories were got from 92 copies of the four dailies. Findings indicated that newspapers owned by politicians were guided by the political interest of their financiers while newspapers owned by businessmen were neutral in the coverage of the 2015 elections. This study confirms Altschull’s (1984) theory of media ownership and therefore concludes that media products reflect the preferences of the dominant power structures. Keywords: Nigerian press, Coverage, 2015 elections, Ownership structure, Media ownership