Date of Award

2-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Digital Journalism (MADJ)

First Supervisor/Advisor

Benjamin Muindi

Department

Graduate School of Media and Communications

Abstract

Mobile journalism has increasingly become popular in television newsrooms due to the burgeoning number of audiences using mobile devices and social media. Scholarship in mobile journalism has analyzed news gathering, production and dissemination and content production for mobile users. However, no studies focus on adopting mobile journalism within Uganda’s newsrooms. This study aimed to examine the adoption of mobile journalism in newsrooms in Uganda using the case study of NBS TV and NTV newsrooms. The study employed diffusion of innovation and adopted a mixed methods research approach and case study design, employing survey (N=109) and in-depth interviews (N=12) as data collection techniques with NBS TV and NTV newsroom staff. The study found that mobile journalism adoption in Uganda’s newsrooms was substantial. Both NTV Uganda and NBS TV stood at 61.5% (n=67) out of 109 respondents within the two newsrooms fully adopting mobile journalism. Although mobile journalism has been adopted substantially in Uganda’s newsrooms, the practice has not been fully integrated in reporters’ work routines. The drivers of mobile journalism adoption or lack of it were categorized into four broad themes: individual and mobile device characteristics and organizational and societal factors. The challenges of adopting mobile journalism were categorized into the cost of mobile devices, newsroom quality standards, lack of skills, fake news, Internet penetration, and data costs sub-themes. The opportunities of adopting mobile journalism were categorized into digital news, the ease and swiftness of sharing content, the skilling of journalists, and cost-cutting. There is a need for NTV and NBS TV management to establish structures to integrate mobile journalism in the newsrooms.

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