Millennials, Digital Natives and the Future of Print Newspapers - Dr. Bolaji Akinola

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Millennials, Digital Natives and the Future of Print Newspapers By Bolaji Mohammed Akinola (16100440575) October 2020 Millennials, Digital Natives and the Future of Print Newspapers By Bolaji Mohammed Akinola (16100440575) A thesis submitted to the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in Media and Communication of Pan-Atlantic University October 2020 ii Abstract The study was designed to examine the news consumption habits of millennials and digital natives – two different generational cohorts born into the world of tablets, smartphones, apps, social media and series of messaging platforms – and the significance of these habits on the future of printed newspapers in Nigeria. The study utilised mixed instruments to gather relevant data. These include the moderator’s guide for the focus group discussions, used to obtain data from 96 purposively selected millennials and digital natives in the six geopolitical zones of the country, and the structured in-depth interview guide, used to obtain data from three purposively selected editors of the three oldest surviving newspapers in Nigeria. The study found that the millennials and digital natives are active news consumers. Entertainment news, sports news and news on politics are the most preferred news by the generational cohorts. The study also found that the rapid rise of affordable smartphones, increasing Internet penetration and the individualisation of online news have created a virtual proximity that enables the millennials and digital natives stay regularly in touch with their chosen news medium and to consume only that which they desire and when they desire it. This is not the kind of imperishable litheness print newspapers are able to offer the generational cohorts, thereby leading to a progressive displacement of printed copies in the world of the young news consumers. The study further found that the cost of newspapers, location of the respondents and the inconvenience associated with acquiring newspaper copies contribute to the avoidance of printed newspapers by the millennials and digital natives. The study concludes that print newspapers may face severe economic pressure if they do not take steps to attract the interest of the young adults. The study, therefore, recommends that print newspapers need to rethink the concept of storytelling and overhaul their circulation systems to attract the interest of the two generational cohorts. iii Acknowledgements I owe my gratitude for the commencement and completion of this work to many people. First, I would express gratitude and appreciation to God Almighty, the author and finisher of our faith, who made it possible for me to undertake this study and who provided the resources necessary for its timely completion. I am also grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Ikechukwu Obiaya, for his ideas, patience, guidance and encouragement. Dr. Obiaya’s positive attitude and belief in my ability to complete the study within schedule were the elixir that spurred me on. I also wish to thank the faculty members of the School of Media and Communication – Professor Emevwo Biakolo (who retired before the completion of this work), Dr. Ngozi Okpara, Dr. Silk Ogbu, Dr. Ruth Oji, Dr. Nelson Okorie and many others – who helped me to understand the rudiments of rigorous research work of this nature and whose inputs helped a great deal in giving direction to the work. I would also like to acknowledge the constant encouragement of Mrs. Ijeoma Nwachukwu, who, throughout the time I studied at the School of Media and Communication, never failed to call me or send text messages praying and encouraging me to forge ahead. Whenever I felt exhausted (and this happened many times) in the course of the study, Mrs. Nwachukwu’s messages and telephone calls re-energised me. Many other members of staff of SMC were also supportive and helpful in the course of my study at the school. I also wish to express my appreciation to all my colleagues at Ships & Ports Communication Company – Eucharia Udoaka, Enajite Eriabie, Shulammite Olowofoyeku, Tosin Olawale-Rotimi, Shade Adedokun, Muyiwa Sonuyi, Oluwatoyin Amao, Aminat Kareem, John Omoaka, and Seun Mosaku for their support in completing this project. I also thank Comfort Oseghale, Sunday Kanu and Emmanuella Ojarikre who worked with me at various stages of the project as research iv assistants. My co-traveller in the PhD programme, Gabriel Omozuwa, also deserves appreciation for providing critical feedback on some sections of the work. I also must not fail to thank Dr. Kizito Alakwe who helped sharpen my understanding on the use of Nvivo software for analysing qualitative research data. This research project would not have been possible without the willing participants of the focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. I therefore wish to thank all the 96 focus group discussion participants spread across various parts of the country and the three newspaper editors who agreed to be interviewed for the study. The participation of all the respondents supplied the rich qualitative data for the research. Finally, I want to say a big thank you to my loving and supportive wife, Mrs. Adeyemi Bolaji-Akinola and our adorable children, Ibukun and Jinmi. It is impossible to successfully embark on a project of this magnitude and travel round the country for several days without good support on the home front. I count myself blessed to have such support in good measure from my wife and children, and I will be eternally grateful to them for this. v Dedication This research is dedicated to the memory of my late grandmother, Mrs Taiwo Oliyide-Akinola (Iya Eleko); my late father, Alhaji Abdulkadri Olusoji Akinola and my late uncle, Mr. Olatunji Adisa Akinola for the invaluable roles they played in shaping my life. I pray that God will continue to rest their souls in peace. vi Student’s Declaration I have read and understood the School of Media and Communication Policy on plagiarism. I declare that this dissertation/project is my own work and that all sources are fully referenced. I also declare that I have not submitted this work for any other purpose. ……………………………………….. BOLAJI AKINOLA 16100440575 vii CERTIFICATION I certify that this work was carried out by Bolaji Akinola in the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, under my supervision. -------------------------------------- Supervisor Dr. Ikechukwu Obiaya Lecturer, School of Media and Communication Pan-Atlantic University Lagos, Nigeria viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iv Dedication .......................................................................................................................... vi Student’s Declaration .................................................................................................... vii Certification .....................................................................................................................viii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. ix List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... xii List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xii List of Appendices ........................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 1.1. Background to the Study .....................................................................................................1 1.1.1. Print Newspaper .......................................................................................................................... 10 1.1.3. Previous Threat to Printed Newspapers .............................................................................. 16 1.1.4. Millennials .................................................................................................................................... 18 1.1.5. Digital Natives ............................................................................................................................. 21 1.1.6. Living in a Different World .................................................................................................... 24 1.2. Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................. 25 1.3. Objectives of the Study ..................................................................................................... 27 1.4. Research Questions ............................................................................................................ 27 1.5. Rationale for the Study ..................................................................................................... 28 ix 1.6. Significance of the Study .................................................................................................. 28 1.7. Scope/Delimitations of the Study .................................................................................... 29 1.8 Operational Definition of Terms ...................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 34 2.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 34 2.2. Conceptual Review............................................................................................................. 35 2.3. Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................... 41 2.3.1. Uses and Gratifications Theory ............................................................................................. 42 2.3.2. Technological Determinism .................................................................................................... 54 2.4. Empirical Literature ......................................................................................................... 65 2.5. Methodological Review ..................................................................................................... 91 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................... 98 3.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 98 3.2. Research Design.................................................................................................................. 99 3.3. Population of the Study .................................................................................................. 104 3.4. Sampling Procedure ....................................................................................................... 106 3.4.1. The Focus Groups ....................................................................................................................106 3.4.2. The In-depth Interviews .........................................................................................................112 3.5. Data Collection Procedure ............................................................................................ 113 3.6. Data Collection Instruments ......................................................................................... 115 3.7. Ethical Consideration ..................................................................................................... 117 3.8. Data Analysis Procedure ............................................................................................... 118 CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ....... 120 4.1. Presentation of Focus Group Data .............................................................................. 121 4.2. Presentation of In-depth Interview Data ................................................................... 138 4.3. Analysis of Data ............................................................................................................... 146 x 4.4. Summary of Findings ..................................................................................................... 161 4.5. Discussion of Findings .................................................................................................... 163 4.5.1. Immediacy ..................................................................................................................................167 4.5.2. Inconvenience ............................................................................................................................168 4.5.3. Lack of Time ..............................................................................................................................169 4.5.4. Boredom ......................................................................................................................................170 4.5.5. Cost ...............................................................................................................................................171 4.5.6. Incidental News Consumption .............................................................................................172 4.5.7. In-group versus Out-group ....................................................................................................172 4.5.8. Nigeria’s Socio-Economic Peculiarities and the News Consumption Habits of Millennials and Digital Natives .......................................................................................................173 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .............................. 176 5.1. Summary of the Study.................................................................................................... 176 5.2. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 183 5.3. Recommendations ........................................................................................................... 185 5.4. Contribution to Knowledge........................................................................................... 188 5.5. Limitations of the Study ................................................................................................ 189 5.6. Suggestions for Further Studies ................................................................................... 190 References................................................................................................................................. 191 Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 227 xi List of Tables Table 1 Decline in newspaper in newspaper sales in the UK ………….... 7 Table 2 Summary of Previous Studies ………………………………….. 86 Table 3 Focus group discussion schedule ……………………………….. 110 List of Figures Figure 1 Focus Group Discussion itinerary …………..…………………….. 111 Figure 2 News preference of Nigeria’s millennials and digital natives ……... 147 Figure 3 Most preferred news by Nigeria’s millennials and digital natives … 147 Figure 4 Millennials and digital natives’ preferred news media ………..….. 149 Figure 5 Millennials and digital natives’ most preferred news medium ….…. 150 Figure 6 Readership of printed newspapers …………………………………. 151 Figure 7 Purchase of printed newspapers ……………………………………. 152 Figure 8 Potential readership of printed newspapers …………...……………. 153 Figure 9 Potential readership of printed newspapers …………...……………. 154 Figure 10 Potential buyers of printed newspapers …………...………………. 154 Figure 11 Potential buyers of printed newspapers …………...………………. 155 Figure 12 Role of Nigeria’s socio-economic peculiarities on the news consumption habits of its millennials and digital natives ………………………...……….. 158 Figure 13 Circulation figures of select newspapers ……….......…………….. 160 List of Appendices Appendix 1: Research Instrument: Focus Group Discussion Moderator‘s Guide 227 Appendix 2: Research Instrument: In-depth Interview Guide …………………..229 Appendix 3: Focus Group Discussion Photographs …………………………….232 Appendix 4: Transcript of Focus Group Discussions ……………………...........238 Appendix 5: Transcript of In-depth Interviews …………………………………319 xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background to the Study The young adults of today, identified in this study as millennials and digital natives – who represent 76 per cent of Nigeria’s population (National Bureau of Statistics, 2018) – appear not to be significantly interested in printed newspapers. Some studies (Galam, Osserman, Parker & Taylor, 2019; Agbawe, 2018; see also Mahmud, Rasaq & Abdulkadir, 2012; Turner, 2015) have shown that the millennials and digital natives, otherwise known as Generation Y and Generation Z respectively, have a preference for consuming news stories on the digital platform. This preference raises questions about the future prospects of print newspapers in Nigeria. It is also a stark reminder of how the Internet has reshaped traditional communication media, including telephony, radio, television, paper mail and newspapers. New media such as websites, email, instant messaging, digital books, digital newspapers, online news aggregators, video streaming, blogs, microblogs, and several others, which are all by-products of the Internet, are the toasts of Generations Y and Z. Businesses, government and virtually all facets of human endeavours have been significantly impacted by the Internet revolution. In addition to creating room for flexibility in working hours and in work locations, the Internet has led to a de- territorialized news ecology (Widholm, 2018), which has been widely researched in terms of content and distribution while its broader consequences for the newspaper industry have been less studied. Because the Internet can be accessed wirelessly from almost anywhere on the surface of the earth through various means, including portable and affordable modems and mobile telephone devices, the dynamics of human communication have been altered. 1 As the decisive technology of the information age (Castells, 2014; Puspita & Rohedi, 2018), the Internet has expanded human communication in all cultures through increased social interaction, civic engagement and the intensity of family and friendship relationships. The Internet has truly networked humanity and indeed made the world a global village (Patel, Patel, Scholar & Salazar, 2016). The virtual life, made possible by the Internet, is fast becoming more social than the physical life, facilitating real-life work and urban living (Castells, 2014). The most significant expression of the Internet’s transformation is visible in the human communication processes. No known form of human communication – intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, mass and public communication – has been able to avoid the transformational power of the Internet. In addition to becoming instantaneous, messages no longer flow solely from the few to the many, with little interactivity. Now, messages also flow from the many to the many, multimodally and interactively. By disintermediating government and corporate control of communication, horizontal communication networks have created a new landscape of social and political change. Online and particularly wireless communication have helped social movements pose more of a challenge to state power. The Internet and the web constitute the technological infrastructure of the global network society. Digital communication technology has already become second skin for many people, especially the young. At present, more than half of the world has access to the Internet, and the number is growing rapidly, with deliberate efforts being made by governments and non-governmental organisations to make it more readily available and affordable across the globe (International Telecommunications Union, 2019). The Internet has become an important element of man’s everyday life to the extent that the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a non-binding resolution in 2 June 2016 condemning countries that intentionally take away or disrupt their citizens’ access to it (Velocci, 2016). The UN resolution lends credence to a general belief among online folks that access to the Internet is a fundamental human right, which must be respected by all governmental authorities (BBC, 2010; Internet Society, 2016). The Internet has grown from about one billion users in 2005 to more than 3.5 billion users by the end of 2017 (International Telecommunication Union, 2018) and to 4.1 billion users in 2019 (ITU Publications, 2020). Between 2005 and 2019, the number of Internet users grew on average by 10 per cent every year (International Telecommunications Union, 2019). According to ITU Publications (2020), 70% of the world’s youth (aged 15-24) are online while more than 80% of the population in 104 countries are digitally connected. In developed countries, 94% of young people aged 15-24 use the Internet compared with 67% in developing countries and only 30% in least developed countries. Nearly 9 out of 10 young individuals not using the Internet live in Africa or Asia and the Pacific. The Internet has at least two major effects on the availability of news and information: It has provided opportunities for citizens to discuss current affairs and has enhanced the vitality of the public sphere (Wurff, 2005; Gaskins & Jerit, 2012). Online news services have also expanded the supply of news, information and discussion forums, and forced traditional news media to reinvent themselves and adapt their roles in information markets to a new competitive situation. Internet usage in Africa is however limited by a relatively low penetration rate and infrastructural challenges. But while the African Internet market is still at an early stage of development, it is reputed to be one of the fastest growing in the world (Anie, 2015). The spread of Internet penetration across the continent has given rise to a 3 booming telecommunications industry, with mobile telephone usage becoming more widespread in comparison to fixed line telephones. In Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa, Mauritius and Seychelles are the leading countries in Internet development while Morocco and Egypt are the leading countries in Internet development in North Africa (International Telecommunications Union, 2018). The Internet boom has also given rise to readers’ rapidly shifting preferences from getting the news on their doorsteps and at the newsstands to reading it on their telephones, tablets, laptops and desktops, thereby exerting considerable pressure on printed newspapers. As a result, the print media is shrinking both in size and in circulation. Orimalade (2018), Olieh (2017), Oshimade (2015) and Adeyemo (2015) suggest that as the digital space expands, thereby attracting more news consumers, print newspapers may be losing out as major revenue earners for publishing houses. While the mass media landscape was altered dramatically with the spectacular rise of the modern commercial mass newspaper in the 20th century (Hendriks, 1999), the modern day challenge posed by the new media implies that the newspaper industry has to adapt to new models to cope with a rapidly changing world. The almost instant availability of news through various online platforms (Pew Research Center, 2018) portends that the newspaper business is fast running out of time to transform its modus operandi (Purdy, Wong & Harris, 2016; Saba, 2009). The decline in the fortunes of the newspaper industry can be seen in the rapid decline in the number of readers, copy sales and advertisement revenue over the past 20 years (Purdy, Wong & Harris, 2016). Hard copy newspapers are rapidly losing advertisers, readers, market value, and, in some cases, their sense of mission at a pace that would have been difficult to imagine two decades ago. The newspaper industry’s decline has been well discussed as the 4 industry is progressively battling with escalating costs of production, high prices of newsprint, increasingly declining advertisement income and a persistent decline in circulation (Abubakar & Abubakar, 2015; Ekhareafo & Asemah, 2013). In recent times, several newspapers across the world have either ceased operations entirely or discontinued printing hard copies (Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, 2018; Thornton, 2016; Meyer, 2009). The rapid decline of newspapers cuts across various countries. In the United States of America, the pressures facing traditional newspapers have intensified, leading to nothing less than a reorganization of the industry itself (Pew Research Centre, 2016). Over the past decade, hundreds of newspapers in the world’s most powerful country have either closed shop or drastically reduced their print run and staff (Pew Research Centre, 2016; Lieberman, 2009). Some have also seen their news offering reduced to a bare-bones Internet operation. One of the country’s oldest newspapers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, ceased printing in 2009 after 146 years in the business (Rosenthal, 2009). Another popular newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle narrowly escaped closure after employees made steep concessions (Rogers, 2009). Several other large newspaper firms like Tribune Company, the Journal Register Company, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Philadelphia Newspapers LLC, Sun-Times Media Group and Freedom Communications have all filed for bankruptcy (Marshall, 2008). According to Marshall (2008), the situation is so bad that some newspaper chains that had acquired other newspapers recorded a steep decline in their stock values, with at least four newspaper chains listed on the New York Stock Exchange having their shares deleted for falling below $1. Large news conglomerates like Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and The Washington Post have not been spared the harsh effect of the newspaper industry’s negative downturn. The decline in the United 5 States newspaper industry was so significant it led to a senator sponsoring a bill to allow newspapers to restructure and run as non-profit corporations with an array of tax breaks (Ferraro, 2009). The number of newspapers per hundred million people in the United States fell from 1,200 in 1945 to 400 in 2014. Over that same period, circulation per capita declined from 35 per cent in the mid-1940s to under 15 per cent while the number of newspaper journalists decreased from 43,000 in 1978 to 33,000 in 2015 (Kamarck & Gabriele, 2015). The year 2015, in particular, was considered “the worst year since the recession and its immediate aftermath” for the newspaper industry in the U.S., with average weekday newspaper circulation falling by 7% – the greatest decline since 2010 (Pew Research Centre, 2016). Total advertising revenue among publicly traded newspaper companies also declined by 8%. The European newspaper industry has not been faring any better. In the United Kingdom, top newspapers like The Independent, Daily Mail and Telegraph have been badly hit by the downturn in the industry. A 2017 Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) report confirms a consistent downward trend for top British newspapers as shown in Table 1. The popular Daily Express, for example, sold an average of 391,626 copies a day in December 2016, down by 2.3% in the same month the year before, while its stablemate, the cut-price Daily Star, was down by 2.5% to 440,471 (Greensdale, 2017). The ABC report further indicates that the circulation figure for Daily Star Sunday fell by 13.2% to 257,790 copies; Sunday Mirror fell 16.3% to 620,861; while Sunday People dropped by 15.1% to 239,364 copies. Sun on Sunday fell 5.83% to 1,383,048 copies; Sunday Express 5.6% to 335,271; and Mail on Sunday 7.34% to 1,284,121 copies (Greenslade, 2017). 6 Another British newspaper, The Guardian, now runs a notice on its website soliciting funds from readers (The Guardian, 2018). The notice is an undisguised indicator of the challenges facing The Guardian and other newspapers across the world. Newspapers in other parts of Europe such as Switzerland and the Netherlands are also struggling. They have lost a substantial portion of their advertising revenue over the past decade (Zubair, 2015; The Economist, 2006). Table 1 Decline in Newspaper Sales in the UK Newspaper 2015 2016 Average daily Average daily Decline sales sales Daily Express 400,845 391,626 2.3% Daily Star 451,765 440,471 2.5% Daily Star Sunday 296,993 257,790 13.2% Sunday Mirror 741,769 620,861 16.3% Sunday People 281.936 239,364 15.1% Sun On Sunday 1,468,671 1,383,048 5.8% Sunday Express 355,160 335,271 5.6% Mail On Sunday 1,385,842 1,284,121 7.34% Source: Greenslade (2017) Newspapers in Nigeria have not been spared the turbulent times facing the global newspaper industry (Zubair, 2015). Preliminary findings by this study show that several newspapers have shut down their operations in recent times. These include Champion, Next, Observer, National Mirror, Newswatch Daily, Daily Sketch, and 7 New Nigeria, among several others, while newspapers like PM News, which was an evening only newspaper, has ceased hardcopy production, maintaining only online presence. Surviving top newspapers like The Guardian, Thisday, Punch, Independent and Vanguard have reduced their workforce and the size of their publication depending on the quantum of advertisement realized per edition. The newspapers, like their counterparts in other parts of the world, have developed strong online presence even as their daily copies are believed to have dipped despite Nigeria’s growing population. While other factors may have contributed to the demise of some of these publications, the influence of the young adults of today – the millennials and digital natives – cannot be overlooked. The Internet and its plethora of social media platforms, which offer news for free and do not provide commensurate revenue to newspaper publishing houses as printed newspapers did, remain the preference of these young adults. These new media forms have blown the economic model of traditional journalism sky-high, and the rush to find a new model that will provide profits is prompting both innovation and relentless cost-cutting by the newspapers (Jones, 2009). Across the world, newspaper publishers are inexorably striving to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by digital disruption and economic shifts. While there is no shortage of consumer demand for their core offering of news and information, newspapers are faced with competition from a multiplicity of alternative sources, many of them available online for free. As a result, newspaper publishers are faced with some fundamental questions. For example, what does it take to be – and remain – a trusted source of information for consumers in a world full of digital content and social media noise? How can newspapers continue to attract the modern day young adult to their content no matter where or how it is consumed? And going 8 forward, what will be their business’s optimal balance of revenues between paid and advertising supported models? While it could be argued that the newspaper industry has faced and weathered tough challenges such as the advent of radio and television in the past, the explosion of the Internet and the new media has increased the number of media choices available to the average reader, further undercutting the dominant position of newspapers (Bakker, 2013). The new media is not only eroding the readership base of newspapers, it is also fast gaining grounds as a more convenient vehicle for classified advertising, particularly in categories such as jobs, vehicles, and real estate (Seamans and Zhu, 2013). According to Seamans and Zhu (2013), the global newspaper industry lost $5.4 billion to the new media in classified advertisement revenue from 2000 to 2007. Technology has, for better or worse, exerted a fundamental influence on the newspaper industry, thereby causing a disruption of the industry. The digital threat to print newspapers extends beyond the cursory argument of whether the industry is in the kind of cyclical trough that it has faced and conquered in the past, such as when it was displaced by television, in the 1950s, as the primary medium for influencing public opinion. The situation could well be that digital technology has rendered print newspapers obsolete. Also, the news consumption habits of the young adults of today – millennials and digital natives – may not be supportive of a sustainable future for printed newspapers (Hassan & Nazri, 2018) as many of such newspapers may never be profitable again or may never be as profitable as they used to be. While the news consumption habits of these generational cohorts has enjoyed adequate academic research attention in some countries especially in Europe, Asia and America, the same cannot be said of Nigeria where there is need for 9 a comprehensive and all-inclusive pan-Nigerian study that takes into account the peculiarities of the local environment. 1.1.1. Print Newspaper The print newspaper is one of the oldest and most enduring elements of the contemporary media landscape. Newspapers, like other media of mass communication, pay significant attention to reporting events around social institutions namely family, government, education, economy and religion. Consumers of news have never had it so good as newspaper offerings are no longer confined to narrow geographical locales (Pavlik, 2000; Widholm, 2018), thanks to the Internet. Newspapers today play an important role, just like other mass media forms, in creating and shaping public opinion, strengthening society and serving as society’s watchdog to protect public interest. Newspapers also educate and entertain their readers. Most newspapers have a dual nature – they are a public service and, at the time, a business. This duality has led to expectations that have impacted the kind of influence newspapers wield (Chapin, 1996). As businesses, newspapers pay their expenses with revenue derived from subscription, sales of copies and advertisement. In Africa, while there have been significant changes to the operations of newspapers since they began on the continent in 1800, the growth of the industry still does not compare to those of Asia, Europe or America. In Africa, newspapers are still small and undercapitalized; due to poor capital, high level of illiteracy and poor infrastructure, circulations are limited even as advertising revenue is meagre in comparison to their counterparts in developed countries. Newspaper production and distribution remain difficult and expensive (Cage, 2014; Gicheru, 2014; Hachten, 1970); there is a proliferation of quacks among journalists, who are the primary 10 content creators for the newspapers, and the remuneration of workers in the newspapers is poor (Ige, 2013). 1.1.2. Newspaper Circulation Circulation is important to the printed newspaper because it is a major determinant in attracting revenue through advertisement, which is where most newspapers generate as much as 80 per cent of their revenue (Sparks, Wang, Huang, Zhao, Lu & Wang, 2016). Some newspapers are circulated for free to attract wide readership. Readership figures are however higher than both sales and circulation figures. This is because it is assumed that more than one person reads a newspaper copy (Aliagan, 2015). On the average, circulation accounts for 49 per cent of a newspaper’s revenue (Leurdij, Slok & Nieuwenhuis 2012). It is believed that about 2.5 billion people around the world read newspapers in print while 800 million read on digital platforms (Vasundara & Ravi, 2016). While print circulation increased by two per cent globally in 2013 from 2012, it has fallen by two per cent over the past five years. In countries with an expanding middle class, print circulation continues to rise but mature markets continue to experience a prolonged, structural fall as their audiences move their interest to digital sources (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, 2014). Newspapers that are sold usually carry a cover price, which is the financial value stipulated on the masthead. A newspaper price is fixed based on three ends – to inspire acquisition; to give worth to the product; and to prevent rivals from infiltrating the market at low prices (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, 2014). Within certain social cadres in some climes like Nigeria, pricing may not inspire acquisition but instead discourage it, especially due to low purchasing power 11 (Tumwine, Omago & Gershom, 2014). Newspaper prices in Nigeria range from N200 to N250. For example, The Guardian and THISDAY sell for N250 per copy while The Punch, Vanguard, The Nation, Tribune and Daily Trust sell for N200 per copy. Sales and circulation figures of newspapers in Nigeria, as mentioned earlier, are relatively poor in comparison to their foreign counterparts. This may be due to several factors including limited funding and the low purchasing power of many Nigerians. For instance, no newspaper in Nigeria is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, unlike their counterparts in Europe, America and Asia. This limits their capital base and significantly hampers their reach and operation. Newspapers in Nigeria generally keep their sales and circulation figures close to their chest (Olaniyan, 2019). This, perhaps, is to avoid letting advertisers and the general public know of their dismally low print runs. This is because public knowledge of low print runs may impair advertisement revenue. Despite being the seventh most populous country in the world with a population of more than 185 million (United Nations, 2017), no Nigerian newspaper ranks among the world’s top 50 newspapers by sales or circulation. Circulation figures are either not displayed on the websites of the newspapers, have been pulled down (and retrieved through other sources), or out- dated. For example, Daily Sun newspaper, which came into publication as a weekly on 18th January, 2003, and became a daily on 16th June, 2003, claimed in 2011 that it had a daily print run of 130,000 copies and 135,000 copies for its weekend titles, with an average of 80% sales (The Sun, 2011). This sales figure, its publishers argue, made The Sun the highest selling newspaper in Nigeria. The figures have not been updated six years after. The Guardian newspaper, which was established in 1983 for the purpose of presenting a balanced coverage of events, and of promoting the best interests of Nigeria (The Guardian, 2018), and which is one of the most respected 12 elitist newspapers in the country, does not have its sales or circulation figures on its website. This is in spite of the newspaper’s claim of being a liberal publication, committed to the best traditions and ideals of republican democracy (The Guardian, 2018). The only available sales/circulation figures for Punch and THISDAY newspapers are those obtained through secondary sources, the credibility of which cannot be established by this study. These figures are listed as 110,000 and 100,000 for Punch and THISDAY newspapers respectively (Nigerian Finder, 2017). Vanguard newspaper, which was established in 1984, is however more forthcoming with its circulation figures. The newspaper claims it circulates 20,000 copies daily in Lagos, the nation’s business heartbeat; 12,000 copies in Abuja; 15,000 in the South-West; 25,000 in the South-South and 15,000 in the South-East. It also placed its circulation figures in the North-Central region of Nigeria at 18,000 copies, and 7,500 copies in the North East and North West regions respectively. This implies the newspaper circulates a total of 120,000 copies daily while it maintains a daily print run of 130,000 copies (Vanguard, 2018). The circulation/sales figures churned out by the newspapers are however at variance with those of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN). ADVAN stirred controversy when it claimed that the highest selling newspaper in the country was Punch with a mere 34,264 copies in daily circulation (Hollingsworth & Kemedi, 2015). The Nation, The Sun, The Guardian and THISDAY were listed by the association as the second, third, fourth and fifth highest circulating newspapers respectively. Using either the ADVAN figure or figures from other sources does not detract from the argument that Nigerian newspapers have relatively low circulation. Newspaper circulation figures from other countries come in handy in buttressing this point. In the UK, The Sun is the highest circulating newspaper. Its circulation figures 13 over the years stand at 1,666,751 in 2017; 1,787,096 in 2016; 1,978,702 in 2015; 2,213,659 in 2014; 2,409,811 in 2013; 2,582,301 in 2012; 3,001,822 in 2011; and 3,006,565 in 2010 (Ponsford, 2017). With a population three times that of the UK, Nigeria’s highest circulating newspaper is barely able to achieve two percent of the sales of its British counterpart. Newspaper sales and circulation in the United States of America compare to that of the UK with the highest selling newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, published in New York, grossing revenue from as much as 2,378,827 copies a day (Barthel, 2017). The argument for high newspaper circulation in the United States of America and in the UK may not be unconnected to high adult literacy rate, high living standards and a good newspaper distribution network, which is largely aided by good social infrastructure. In Brazil where 8.6 per cent of the population lives in extreme poverty (Rapoza, 2016), though the newspaper industry is shrinking after nearly doubling its circulation between 1990 and 2010 (Carro, 2016), the sales and circulation in that country, though not as low as in Nigeria, lag behind the UK’s. With a burgeoning population of 208 million, a GDP of $3.21 trillion (twice Nigeria’s) and a relatively high average adult literacy rate of 92.6 per cent (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica, 2018), the highest selling newspaper in Brazil, Folha de S.Paulo (otherwise known as Folha de São Paulo or simply Folha) has a daily average circulation of 279,000 copies on weekdays and 329,000 on Sundays (Instituto Verificador de Circulação, 2017). Sales figures from other countries like Japan and India in Asia also attest to the poor performance of Nigerian newspapers in terms of circulation. Japan’s highest circulating newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, is also the world’s largest selling newspaper, grossing revenue from about ten million copies a day (Nippon, 2017). In India, the daily sales of the most read newspaper, Dainik Jagran, stand at more than three million copies (Bhagat, 2017). 14 The abysmally low sales and circulation of newspapers in Nigeria may not be unconnected with low purchasing power and low adult literacy rate (Akinola, 2019). The United Nations Development Programme (2015) states that about 70.8 per cent of Nigerians live on less than one dollar per day, while 92.4 per cent live on less than two dollars per day. At an official exchange rate of N379 to the United States dollar (Central Bank of Nigeria, 2020), it means that as much as 140 million Nigerians could be living on less than N379 per day. With a newspaper selling for an average price of N200, this category of Nigerians, who are in the majority, may not have sufficient disposable income to be able to buy at least one newspaper a day. This assertion is corroborated by the World Bank (2018), which puts the poverty rate in Nigeria at 64.2 per cent with urban poverty rate at 52.2 per cent and rural poverty rate at 73.4 per cent of the total population. Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, however, puts the number of poor Nigerians (those who live on less than one U.S. dollar per day) at about 82.9 million people (Aljazeera, 2020). Though this figure is lower than the World Bank’s, it is still a high number. The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF (2019) puts world literacy rate for people aged 15-24 years at 92 per cent as at 2018. The agency puts the literacy rate for males within this age bracket at 93 per cent and for females at 90 per cent. However, in several countries in West and Central Africa, youth literacy rates remain less than 50 per cent (UNICEF, 2019). Also, the world illiterate population remains high at 757 million people. Sub-Sahara Africa has the lowest literacy rate in the world at 64.0 per cent for both males and females. In Nigeria, the adult literacy rate is 59.57 per cent with 69.46 per cent for males and 49.68 per cent for females. This is much lower than the global and the sub-Saharan Africa rate. It is also lower than the youth literacy rate of 72.79 per cent with 80.25 per cent for male youth and 65.33 per cent 15 for female youth. At 92 per cent, Lagos State, where newspapers are believed to have their highest circulation, accounts for the highest literacy rate in Nigeria (Akinola, 2019). The lowest rate, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (2018) is recorded in states located in the North-East region of the country, with Borno at 14.5 per cent; Taraba, 23.3 per cent; Yobe, 26.6 per cent; Bauchi, 34.1 per cent; Gombe, 39.3 per cent and Adamawa, 40.5 per cent. Understandably, newspaper sales in these states are among the lowest in the country. 1.1.3. Previous Threat to Printed Newspapers An interpretation of economic relationships between the different types of media begins with a definition of product competition. The foundation of competition is whether similar wants or needs of consumers can be satisfied by replacing one product with another. When the products are close replacements, competition becomes inevitable. This was the case when broadcasting was born in the early 1900s, showing that survival threats are not alien to print newspaper. In the past, technological advancements in broadcasting were predicted to spell doom for the newspaper industry, and the development of radio and television were significant threats to newspapers (Lenthall, 2007). Of the two, radio, perhaps being the first to arrive, was initially seen as the new media that would sound the death knell for newspapers (Noone, 2013). Radio was the new media of its time. Some researchers argue that radio had a strong effect on the newspaper industry (Lazarsfeld, 1940). Levin (1975) however argues that the evolution of radio had little “all-inclusive” impact on the newspaper industry. Radio’s rise to becoming a strong contender to newspapers began in 1928 (Spalding, 1963; Lacy, 1987). From 1929 to l948, readers could have replaced the newspaper with the radio (Kinter, 1945). However, Larzarsfel 16 (1940) is of the opinion that the radio did not reduce the readership of newspapers. In fact, the two may have encouraged consumer interest in each other (Gordon, 1979). Radio’s proposed influence on newspapers is hinged on two trends: the relatively determined and restricted amount of money assigned to mass media by society and the growing costs in the newspaper industry (Lacy, 1987; Gazi, Starkey & Jedrzejewski, 2011). McCombs (1972) describes this tendency as the relative constancy hypothesis, which proposes that a new medium is assisted by taking away money from existing media. After the entrance of a new medium, the total sum of money spent on pre-existing media may (or may not) increase with time, but the percentage of total money spent on older media will reduce (Noll, Peck & McGowan, 1973; Albarran, Chan-Olmsted & Wirth, 2006)). The effect of shifting money from newspaper advertising to radio advertising was supposedly amplified by rising costs in the newspaper industry at the time (Kinter, 1952). Radio came along at a bad time. It came during the Great Depression (Lacy, 1987; (Lenthall, 2007). Previous research on the press-radio conflict was carried out largely from an economic point of view (Hammergren, 1936). Many scholars are of the opinion that the press-radio war was instigated by the newspaper industry in a bid to safeguard its circulation and advertising revenue. McChesney (1993) contends that early press resistance to radio news was in fact part of a broader campaign being waged at the time to prevent the growth of commercial broadcasting. The economic interpretation given to the press- radio conflict by researchers is important, as there was actually an economic angle to the war between both industries. During the Great Depression, newspapers could hardly afford to lose either advertisers or readers to radio, making the latter a major threat (Jackaway, 1994; Lenthall, 2007). Print journalists escalated the press-radio conflict in order to protect their turf from the new entrants. The conflict lasted a 17 decade, with newspapers unsuccessfully attempting to stifle the growth of radio journalism (Jackaway, 1992). During the 1928 elections in the U.S., several journalists complained that their reports, especially election results, were aired by radio stations a day before the newspapers printed them Gazi, Starkey & Jedrzejewski, 2011). Some newspaper publishers believed at the time that the development would kill their business ventures. Newspaper houses and newswire services of that era stopped supplying news to radios. The radio stations in turn responded by setting up their own news gathering divisions and weaned themselves of reliance on print journalists for their news bulletins (Jackaway, 1994). The newspapers, however, survived the turf war. The battle, this time, is different, as digital technology appears to have upstaged printed newspapers and appears to be set to drive in the final nail into the curtain of good old broadsheets and tabloids. 1.1.4. Millennials Millennials, otherwise known as Generation Y (or Gen Y), is the term used to describe people born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s. Frey (2018) defines millennials as persons born between 1981 and 1997 while the government of the United States of America holds that the millennials are those born between 1982 and 2000 (Census Bureau, 2015). Nigeria has not yet set age boundaries for its millennials, many of whom have crossed into adulthood, but she generally refers to them as youth (Toromade, 2018). The millennials are, therefore, people ranging in age from 20 to 38 years. Millennials, who are mostly the offspring of baby boomers and have been tagged the Baby Boom Echo (Foot & Stoffman, 1998), are preceded by the Generation X (those born between the 1960s and the 1980s) and are the precursors 18 of Generation Z (those born between 2001 and mid 2010s). According to Ugwu and Anekwe (2017), the millennials were born at the onset of personal computers, mobile telephones and video games, and have grown up to be familiar with their usage. The millennials are wont to use technology much more than the preceding generations; and are more frequently in touch with their parents - perhaps due to access to improved technology. Their socioeconomic conditions permitting, most millennials are likely to own a personal computer, a mobile phone and an MP3 player when it was in vogue. They are also comfortable using the Internet. The millennial generation appears to herald a general acceptance of non-traditional families and values (Andert, 2011) as well as the influence of computers on family life. Millennials are proving to be the most academically advanced generation in history (Fenn, 2009). They joined the labour market in the 2000s and are generally highly educated, perhaps more educated, on the average, than earlier generations. They are also exceedingly competent consumers of information and communication technologies and social media (Deal, Altman & Rogelberg, 2010). In the millennial generation, there are higher levels of post-secondary education than previous generations. Additionally, more women in this group also possess university degrees and are engaged in full-time work (Leete, 2006). They are more likely to query everything and have a higher expectation of themselves (Twenge & Campbell, 2008). As a generation, millennials are heavily influenced by the trends that affected them and their boomer parents, such as increases in divorce rates, a greater number of women in the labour force, and rapid technological change (Lancaster & Stillman, 2009; Statistics Canada, 2011). Socioeconomically, millennials were also raised in a relatively middle-class environment, as the Baby Boomers were more prosperous than their own parents (Osberg, 2003). This has led many scholars to characterize 19 millennials as spoilt and entitled (Twenge, 2006; Howe & Strauss, 2000). Studies show that millennials rank higher in self-esteem and assertiveness than preceding generations. They are achievement-focused and are driven to not only succeed but to also outshine and exceed goals and expectations, (Kaifi, Nafei, Khanfar & Kaifi, 2012; Kowske, Rasch & Wiley 2010). As a result, they are constantly on the lookout for new learning opportunities. As it were, millennials are the first to be born into households with personal computers and the first generation of human beings to have been raised in an environment of uninterrupted exposure to digital media (Gorman, Nelson & Glassman, 2004). They are technologically discerning and are linked to social information networks, online news and entertainment. They enjoy access to personal electronic devices, smart phones and computers on a 24-hour a day basis (Psbsrch, 2013). More and more millennials are choosing new media over the traditional media as their most reliable sources of trustworthy news in general. When a survey was carried out on millennials in the United States to determine their news sources, 59 percent chose the Internet while 24 percent chose newspapers (Psbsrch, 2013). Millennials are reputed to be masters of self-expression. Seventy-five percent of them have created a profile on a social networking site; 20 percent have posted a video of themselves online; 38 percent have between one to six tattoos on their bodies; and 23 percent have a piercing in parts of their body other than the earlobe (Dye, 2007). Members of the Generation Y also exhibit an affinity for personal branding, which superficially appears self-promoting. These technology addicts are never far away from their next text message. About 80 percent sleep with their cell phones next to their bed. 20 Millennials tend to drift towards social networks for engagement with their families and friends (Dye, 2007). They are heavily dependent on technology to communicate with others for leisure and for emotional stability. Members of this generation have witnessed a swift advancement in immediate communication technologies, globalization and social networking (Park & Gursoy, 2012). Regarded as the most visually enlightened of any generation, a desire to communicate with others is a major determinant of millennials’ use of social media (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008). More than doubly likely to be early adopters of technology than earlier generations, they stand out when it comes to producing and uploading content online (Immordino-Yang, Christodoulou & Singh, 2012). The definition and description of millennials are drawn from studies conducted in the western world because studies in this area have not been conducted in Nigeria. In Nigeria, some of the biggest social media entrepreneurs are within the millennial generational cohorts. In fact, the top bloggers in Nigeria are millennials e.g. Linda Ikeji of Linda Ikeji’s Blog (38 years old) and Uche Pedro of Bella Naija (34 years old). Many social media influencers in the country are also millennials. They vigorously contribute content, either through creating or aggregating content from various sources. 1.1.5. Digital Natives The name appears descriptive enough; a digital native is a person born in the era of pervasive use of digital technology. People born from 2001, the so-called Generation Z, are regarded in this study as digital natives. This is so because they have grown up surrounded by, and are familiar with, full blown digital technologies. This demographic cohort is largely regarded as being adept at using the Internet and social 21 networking sites to gather information. This generation of mankind has been born into the world of tablets, smartphones, apps, social media (Faceook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram etc.) and series of messaging platforms (WhatsApp, Telegram etc.) (Singh & Dangmei, 2016). The relatively early exposure of Generation Z to digital technology makes them more familiar with, and grants them a better understanding of, digital technology than earlier generations. Regular interaction with technology and its accompanying appurtenances almost from birth is the deciding factor in making Gen Z digital natives. It must however be said that not all children born today can be regarded as digital natives, but those who are not will likely be in the minority. For those that are not digital natives, the obstacle tends in many cases to be as a result of their socioeconomic realities. The youngest generation in the labour market, none of the earlier generations of mankind have been bestowed with as many appellations as Generation Z, which has been variously dubbed iGeneration, Online Generation, Gen Tech, Post-Millennials, Switchers, “always clicking” and Facebook Generation. Generation Z is also known as C Generation, derived from c-words such as connected, computerized, connected to the Internet; content-centric; communicating; community-oriented and changing (due to their affinity for constant changes) (Dudek, 2017; Hysa, 2016; Świerkosz- Hołysz, 2016). To Gen Z, a world without Internet does not exist (Cennamo & Gardner, 2018). Digital natives’ major platforms for communication are the social network sites. Generation Z possess very good device skills and numerous online contacts. As a result of their global online connectivity, they are also tolerant of different cultures and diversities (Csobanka, 2016). Generation Z appears to be the most ethnically diverse and technologically sophisticated generation of mankind. 22 Generation Z enjoys utilizing technology, especially as they become dependent on technology at an earlier age than other generations. Much like learning a new language, studies have discovered that people who utilize technology at an earlier age become more skilful than people who adopt it later in their life. Generation Z has an informal, individual and direct way of communicating. Generation Z is inclined to be somewhat impatient and to have low attention span; it is devoid of the ambitions of the previous generations and may have acquired an attention deficit disorder due to a high dependency on technological appliances. The cohorts of this generation are self- directed, individualistic, acquisitive, most demanding, materialistic and entitled (Coombs, 2013). Most young adults of today, versed in the use of social media, have grown accustomed to commenting on reality, “liking” different things, evaluating what they buy and use, where they spend time, etc. Self-expression has become a way of life. They give feedback, but they also expect feedback and view the communication process as a two-way street. Expectation of feedback seems to be of great importance to this generation. Generation Z can effortlessly function in both the real and virtual worlds. They can easily switch between both as they view them as complementary to one another (Żarczyńska-Dobiesz & Chomątowska, 2014). They are adept at dashing online to quickly check the information they need in the real world. They are also quick at sharing information with others. For this ‘Google’ generation, information is always readily available, instant, immediate and free. This has shaped them to be rebellious, impatient, and expecting instant result (Turner, 2015). Generation Z is capable of forming huge online communities with people they have never met, and may never meet in the real world. While in the online realm, they are chatty, collaborative and social. Ironically, they are inclined to be less able to grow personal 23 relationships in the real world (Riva, Banos, Botella, Wiederhold & Gaggioli, 2017). Digital natives are at home with a variety of mobile devices with which they comment on reality, the environment, and the surroundings they live in; they manifest their opinions and attitudes. They not only use the content of the Internet, but they also create and control it. Today’s young adults have been described as self-absorbed, individualistic, and less team oriented compared to earlier generations (Turner, 2015). As with millennials, the definition and description of digital natives are drawn from studies conducted in the western world because studies in this area have not been conducted in Nigeria. 1.1.6. Living in a Different World Due to the peculiarity of their early exposure to technology, digital natives inevitably behave differently from people of earlier generations. Many workers today, including journalists, editors and newspaper owners, are not digital natives; they are digital migrants. They are people with late exposure to modern technology. They have been set in certain ways and may have become fixated on certain social norms. It could well be that the preferences and way of life of Generation Z will be at odds with those of present day media practitioners. It could well be argued therefore, that Generation Z are born with their own unique social wiring that could challenge the status quo, including being traditional. The millennials and digital natives differ radically from preceding generations. The difference in the 21st century young adults represents a big discontinuity from the past – a sort of singularity birthed by the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century. This is what this study sets out to analyse by undertaking a comprehensive qualitative review of the factors that influence the news consumption habits of both generations. These 24 news consumption habits appear to spell doom for printed newspapers, which may be on their way to oblivion. This is more so in Nigeria, which is a country with a largely youthful population. The United Nations Population Fund, in its latest report, states that 76 per cent of the population of Africa’s largest economy consists of those between the ages of 0 and 24 (UNFPA, 2020). This means 148.8 million out of the country’s 195.5 million people belong to Generations Y and Z (Tijani, 2018). Indeed, the median age of the world’s most populous black nation stands at a highly youthful 18.4 years (Central Intelligence Agency, 2018) even as life expectancy in the country is put at 54.7 years for men and 55.7 years for women by the World Health Organisation (Vanguard, 2018). Following from this data, it could well be extrapolated that in another 15 years, there will be very few non-millennial, non- digital native Nigerians. This could be the final nail in the coffin of printed newspapers in Nigeria. 1.2. Statement of the Problem The peril confronting printed newspapers in the face of digital disruption has been well documented especially in developed countries. Printed newspapers have suffered tremendously from the rise of the Internet (Salman, Ibrahim, Abdullah, Mustaffa & Mahbob, 2011). Online, instantly updated digital content, which is the preference of today’s young adults (Valkama, 2015), has lured many readers away from print, resulting in declining newspaper sales and circulation. This rapidly changing news consumption pattern poses major problems for printed newspapers as a progressively increasing number of people, especially young adults, shun hard copies for news in the digital space (De Waal & Schoenbach, 2010). In addition to the rapid loss of its readers and revenue from sales of copies, the printed newspaper is also fast losing its 25 lifeblood – advertisement revenue. Over the past ten years, newspapers’ advertisement revenue has progressively declined as advertisers embrace the more widespread demand for digital exposure and spend significantly less on broadsheets and tabloids (Bonner, 2015). While the young adults of today – millennials and digital natives – may not be held totally responsible, the news consumption habits of these generational cohorts is contributing significantly to the misfortune faced by printed newspapers (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 2018). Many newspapers may never be profitable again or may never be as profitable as they used to be. While this trend has been well studied in other climes, a comprehensive study of the phenomenon is necessary for the Nigerian context. This study, therefore, aims to fill this gap by undertaking an elaborate audience analysis of the news consumption habits of Nigeria’s Generations Y and Z and what these habits portend for printed newspapers. Localising this study is imperative due to the peculiarities of the Nigerian environment. These peculiarities include the high rate of poverty in the country, with majority of Nigerians living in extreme poverty (Vanguard, 2018); low literacy rate (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2015); relatively high cost of data, gaping infrastructural deficits, socio-cultural divide, as well as urban-rural dichotomy. These peculiarities may make the outcome of the study different from what obtains in other climes. 26 1.3. Objectives of the Study The objectives of this study are: 1. To understand the news preference of Nigeria’s millennials and digital natives; 2. To find out the extent to which Nigeria’s millennials and digital natives prefer reading news online; 3. To evaluate the role of Nigeria’s socio-economic peculiarities on the news consumption habits of its millennials and digital natives; and 4. To examine the significance of the news consumption habits of millennials and digital natives on print newspapers in Nigeria. 1.4. Research Questions 1. What types of news do Nigeria’s millennials and digital natives prefer reading? 2. To what extent do Nigeria’s millennials and digital natives prefer reading news online? 3. What is the role of Nigeria’s socio-economic peculiarities on the news consumption habits of its millennials and digital natives? 4. What is the significance of the news consumption habits of millennials and digital natives on print newspapers in Nigeria? 27 1.5. Rationale for the Study This study was premised on the assumption that the news consumption habits of the modern day young adults, identified in this study as millennials and digital natives, may not be supportive of a sustainable future for printed newspapers. The study is predicated on the assumption that there is a dearth of knowledge about the news consumption habits of the millennials and digital natives in Nigeria with its possible consequences for printed newspapers. The study, therefore, aims to fill this gap by undertaking an elaborate examination of the news consumption habits of the generational cohorts and what these habits could portend for the print newspaper industry. The study takes cognisance of the socio-economic peculiarities of the Nigerian environment. These peculiarities include the high rate of poverty in the country, low literacy rate, gaping infrastructural deficits, socio-cultural divide, as well as urban-rural dichotomy. 1.6. Significance of the Study The findings of this study would be beneficial to the society considering the large number of millennials and digital natives in Nigeria and the vital roles the young adults play in nation building. Understanding the news consumption habits of the generational cohorts and the motivation for the types of news they consume would help newspaper publishing houses offer their services in ways that would appeal to the millennials and digital natives. The active participation of millennials and digital natives in the news production and consumption processes is vital to deepening democracy in Africa’s most populous nation. This is because the mass media creates the platform for informed public debate necessary for a democratic state and is 28