How Social Media Has Compromised Investigative Journalism

Lately, the media industry in Nigeria has been redefining itself by gravitating from traditional reporting to material that appeals to social media users. Because of this change, democratic systems, society’s conversations and journalists’ place are all affected. While the press originally watched out for the public and held the government accountable, now it typically waits for news on social media and chooses not to investigate pressing issues.

It is not only a matter for academics but also poses a serious threat to democracy in Nigeria. Abandoning the job of investigative journalism, focusing on trends and using clickbait often leads to a situation where the media fail to help the public and instead make superficial reporting the norm.

The analysis focuses on the impacts of several crises in Nigerian journalism, such as slow investigative reporting, managers who limit freedom of the press and online trends that have changed both news production and how news is spread.

 

Nigeria's Digital Media Landscape

Social media is vastly influencing news in Nigeria, and it offers important insights into the current crisis. Recent figures reveal that there were 36.75 million social media users in Nigeria in January 2024, which translates to 16.2 per cent of the entire population. Although the figure is a lot higher than in prior years, with the number of social media users jumping from 18 million in 2017 to 34 million in 2022 and experts project there will be over 90 million users on social media in Nigeria by 2025.

When we consider how rapidly social media is expanding, the idea that most Nigerians hear the news on these platforms, with Facebook leading at 64% in news sharing, becomes clearer. It shows that not only do people consume information differently, but also how information is shared has been greatly modified.

Since traditional media outlets are struggling financially, this makes the challenge even bigger. In February 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics said headline inflation jumped to 32%, which created more challenges for businesses, shrank their profits and led media firms to downsize. Due to these economic limitations, media groups usually post fast social media information over time-consuming investigative stories.

 

The Corrosive Impact of Brown Envelope Journalism

Meaningful coverage in Nigeria can be purchased with cash payments, harming the honesty of Nigerian media. Now, this unethical behavior is so accepted that it changes both how individual journalists and the whole media industry put out stories.

Accepting money from tip-givers instead of investigating on their own affects the reporter’s relationship with the subject. This change in journalism means that newspapers end up putting profit before keeping the public well informed. As a result, people stop trusting media organizations and often question the reasons for each story they see.

As a result, journalists are encouraged to focus more on making promotional stories than on their actual investigative duties. Reporters are less likely to look into matters that could displease major powers, and the articles aimed at pleasing advertisers are often successful. For this reason, Nigerian media usually focus on what is trendy instead of tackling sensitive subjects that could cause controversy.

 

Social Media's Dominance Over Traditional Journalism

When you observe the patterns of how people receive media in Nigeria, the changes in the media landscape become obvious. Sixty-seven per cent of people from Nigeria mentioned in a survey conducted in 2024 that they used social media for news, which is considered one of the highest in the world. Because so many people use social media for news, the methods of creating, sharing and accessing information in Nigeria have changed.

A poll conducted in Nigeria between January and February 2023 discovered that Facebook was the main platform for sharing news at 64 per cent. It means that Facebook has now overtaken everyday newspapers and other media in telling Nigerians the news, proving that traditional newspapers are no longer as important.

Due to how popular social media is, people now rush to share information quickly instead of making sure it is accurate. With social media offering results more quickly, newspapers and other media groups have mostly stopped performing thorough investigations to share thoughts on current trends. For this reason, information that is not proven often gets spread fast among people, usually before the truth is checked, which leads to more misinformation.

 

Case 1: The Troubles of Benjamin Daniel Ojukwu

Daniel Ojukwu’s case indicates that Nigerian journalism can be very dangerous, especially for real investigative journalists. Those who support freedom of the press are objecting to the arrest of Daniel Ojukwu, an investigative journalist and his continued detention by the police. Lagos police detained Daniel Ojukwu on May 1 after he released a story on corruption.

They indicate that investigative journalists are often intimidated in this system. Nigería’s constitution states that those accused of a crime should be brought before a court within 48 hours following arrest. For more than nine days, Ojukwu has been held in detention without being charged, which is against his constitutional rights and legal standards. It was alleged that he was arrested because he investigated government corruption, while cybercrime laws were offered as the justification for the detention.

The case proves how carrying out thorough journalistic work has come to be against the law in Nigeria. Even though Ojukwu investigated corruption in public institutions and behaved like a journalistic investigator, he was regarded as a criminal instead of someone who was looking out for society’s good. Additionally, those who spread trending stories on social media and in blogs are not punished, showing that the government cares more about easy publicity than real probing.

 

Case Study 2: The #EndBadGovernance Protests

August 2024 saw the #EndBadGovernance protests, which made it clear how press freedom in Nigeria is threatened. More than 56 journalists suffered attacks, were taken into custody or were hit with tear gas by security forces while covering the protests. This meant there was a major increase in restrictions on the media, as journalists were attacked for trying to do their jobs.

Even though police killed at least 24 people during the nationwide #Endbadgovernance protests from 1-10 August, mainstream media paid less notice to how the same police assaulted journalists covering the events. Because these attacks are very calculated, one can suspect a plan to keep fair reporting away from the protests and what came after.

How the mass media reacted to these events was quite noticeable. Instead of joining those under attack or covering the protests, many journalists preferred to avoid danger and only talk about trending topics and online videos. The shift from writing reports to analyzing social media from a studio denotes a major break in the role of the media.

 

Social Media's Double-Edged Impact on Nigerian Journalism

How news is delivered and created in Nigeria has changed greatly because of social media. Although social media has helped both average people and journalists share their reports, it has also made it more likely that people share inaccurate or shallow news first to maintain popularity.

With social media constantly updating, it becomes very hard for traditional sources to attract new audiences. The result of this competition has caused numerous news outlets to use social media to respond right away instead of doing careful research. Because of this, journalists tend to select topics based on what’s popular and often do not spend much time on stories in depth.

 

The Misinformation Challenge

Misinformation and disinformation become common because fact-checking cannot keep up with the fast information sharing on social media. You could see this occurrence during the 2023 elections in Nigeria, where sites that were not familiar ran news to sway people’s opinions. Thanks to the quick tempo on social media, these platforms could spread incorrect news before it was investigated and challenged by established media.

The problem has increased since misleading stories usually attract more readers, making it more profitable for the news companies to focus on thrilling stories than on factual reports. Once clicks and shares are the main standards of achievement, following accuracy, fairness and serving the public takes a back seat.

 

Using Digital Platforms to Control Politics

Because of the connection between the government and media companies, independent journalism in Nigeria experiences further challenges. There have been instances when politicians and government officials change the look of online environments to promote particular plans, since in several cases, media companies are run by political leaders. When the media is mainly owned by the same people in power, it limits the ability of independent journalists to do reporting that could challenge the politicians’ views and interests.

If media depend on political patrons instead of public concern, their drive shifts from accountability to what benefits the media outlets’ owners. The trend is why more people watch and produce “safe” entertainment material, while the amount of investigative journalism decreases.

 

The Economic Dimensions of Journalism's Decline

The low budgets and financial difficulties in Nigerian media are tied to more people getting their information from social media instead of material from investigative journalism. The usual sources of funds for many journalism companies—advertising and circulation—have been disrupted since digital platforms are grabbing a lot of advertising revenue.

With an unstable economy, investigative journalism is especially difficult to keep up with, because it costs a lot in terms of time, people, lawyers and various security measures, while the outcome is rarely clear. Content created for social media can be produced fast and cheaply, and advertisers pay attention to the instant results it gets.

The level of inflation at 32% in February 2024 makes it more difficult by increasing operating costs, but advertising money is not rising. If media organizations do not pay their journalists’ wages on time, they end up focusing on immediate solutions instead of allocating money for in-depth investigations.

 

International Context and Comparative Analysis

Nigeria’s journalism crisis relates to a worldwide drop in press freedom and changes in traditional methods of journalism. At the same time, there are very serious difficulties in Nigeria. A combination of economic troubles, political pressure and fast adoption of social media hastens the end of investigative journalism.

With a large population and lots of people using social media, Nigeria is an important example to study when exploring how digital services impact the media scene in Africa. Because nearly 90 million people in Nigeria will use social media by 2025, any developments there may show what is coming for other parts of the continent.

 

Consequences for Democratic Governance

When investigative reporting is less common, it can negatively affect how things are run in Nigeria. If the press does not oversee those in power, corruption will flourish without being noticed, decisions on public policy will not be well-examined, and people will not have the details needed for informed participation in democracy.

Because social media promotes certain stories, many key but complicated issues aren’t given enough attention and meaningless or sensational ones are. So, the public tends to shape opinions based mainly on buzzing topics rather than learning in depth about government problems.

When journalists are constantly threatened, the rest of the information system is affected. Instead of investigating these stories on their own, journalists censor themselves since they could be in danger for reporting the information.

 

Technological Solutions and Challenges

Though technology has caused many obstacles in Nigerian journalism, it can also be used to find answers. Thanks to digital technology, there are new methods of investigative journalism, for example, gathering information from a community, examining data and communicating securely with sources.

Still, getting these benefits means supporting people’s digital skills, teaching cybersecurity and changing business models to ensure investigative reporting continues in today’s digital world. Making sure technology preserves traditional journalistic values like accuracy, fairness, and public service is the main challenge.

 

Reviving the Fourth Estate

Fixing today’s challenges in Nigerian journalism should focus on tackling both its systems and traditions. There are several important areas where intervention should happen.

 

Making Regulatory and Legal Changes

Misusing cybercrime laws against journalists must be resolved through changes in the law that protect real journalism and still punish those who commit cyber crimes. The revision of cyberstalking laws in Nigeria in February 2024 is progress, but more substantial efforts are important to ensure that investigative journalism is encouraged, not discouraged by laws.

 

Economic Support for Independent Media

Getting an ongoing revenue stream for investigative journalism is important for the future of the media. Examples could be public funds for investigative journalism, tax reductions for good reporting and financial support systems for quality journalism, not engagement.

 

Professional Development and Safety Training

Those who work in journalism benefit from both training and support because the field has become very complex. Digital security, knowledge of legal matters and career development courses that promote doing things ethically and using proper methods of investigation should be included.

 

Public Media Literacy

If people know more about media literacy and why independent journalism matters, there will be greater interest in good news and less support for misleading information. People need proper education to be able to see the difference between credible and non-credible sources, since this is essential for quality journalism to thrive.

 

Assuring Journalists Safety

Measures to secure journalists against harassment, intimidation and violence are basic to achieving press freedom. Such measures include putting in place laws, practical security and changing society’s attitudes to see that independent journalism is fundamental to democracy.

 

Conclusion

The way Nigerian journalism is heading now means it is not only harming the media but also directly challenges how the country is ruled. Since traditional journalism is fading out in favor of social media sites, the role of the press in watching over public figures is weakening. Thanks to this shift, sharing news without fact-checking is more common, which lowers the trust people have in media and institutions. If journalism does not challenge those in power but mainly agrees with the public, democracy is weakened.

Because of digital media, people in Nigeria now have many new ways to access news, and 36 million users in 2024 are expected to grow to 90 million by 2025. Nevertheless, the shift to digital has not led to changes that defend journalistic integrity. Reporting in 2024 could be dangerous, as shown by the fact that 45 of the 69 journalists attacked were targeted by the police and other authorities. Because of these challenges, many journalists avoid writing important stories, and this underlines the importance of shielding and supporting freedom of the press.

True revival of Nigerian journalism as the Fourth Estate calls for multiple changes: better laws for journalists, ways to finance investigative journalism, improvements in journalists’ careers and a change in cultural attitudes toward independent media. With Nigeria going through political and social changes, how strong and independent the press is will help decide its path to democracy. Innovation in the media should always lift and support journalism’s role in a strong democracy.