Students’ Preference between Hardcopy and Online Newspaper in Nigeria: A Study of Selected State-Owned Tertiary Institutions in Taraba State

Abstract

The study investigates students’ preference between hardcopy and online Newspaper in Nigeria with focus on selected State-owned tertiary institutions in Taraba State. Four objectives and
research questions guided the study. The objectives were to: determine students’ reading preference between online and printed copy of newspaper; investigate the factors responsible for
students’ preference between online and printed copy of newspaper; to what extent does course of
study influence students’ continuous use of preferred channels between online and printed copy of
newspaper and examine methods for sustaining students’ preference between online and printed copy of newspaper. The study was anchored on the Technological Determinism theory. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 15,000 students from State-owned tertiary institutions in Taraba State Nigeria. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage. The findings of the study revealed that 71% of the respondents preferred online newspapers than hardcopy newspaper. The findings also revealed that course of study influences the kind of newspaper the students prefer. From the findings, the study concluded that students from State-owned tertiary institutions in Taraba State preferred online newspaper to the hardcopy. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that more newspaper publishers in Nigeria should be encouraged to go online and there should be better management of content and site of online newspaper in Taraba State.