Attitude Of Female Caritas University Mass Communication Students Towards Journalism As A Career

The objectives of the study are; 

To find out if the hazard of journalism as a career scare women away from the profession. 

To find out if the fragile nature of women make them drop their profession for less hazardous jobs after their training. 

To find out possible solutions to the female apathy to the journalism profession in Nigeria vis a vis counterparts in other countries. 

Journalism  is  the  collection,  preparation  and  distribution  of  News  and related commentary and feature materials through such media as pamphlet, News letter, magazines, radio, motion pictures, television, Bill Boards the internet and Books.

Journalism according to World Book encyclopedia (Vol. 11) is the profession of recording events they maybe of interest to the public. It is therefore both World-wide in scope and as limited as the territory covered by the smallest weekly paper. Men and women who are engaged in this tremendous News gatherings task call themselves journalists and such modern journalists use every means of communication to report the News of the world to Newspaper, Magazine and the New Rooms of Radio and Television.

According to Lambenr and Lambenr (1964), an Attitude is a composite of how a person understands, feel about and act towards the given object person or issues, events and objects.

The earliest known Journalists product was a News sheet in Ancient Rome called the ACTA DIURNAL published daily from 59BC, it was hung in prominent places and recorded important social and political events. Journalism in the 20th century was marked by a growing sense of professionalism. In our society today it has been observed that female student journalists have negative attitude towards taking Journalism as a career, but before going into that we look at history of the NUJ.

The Nigeria Union of Journalism (NUJ) birth was linked to the struggle for the independence of Nigeria. The struggle, it could be re-called gave birth to many protest groups, all yearning for the country‟s independency from the British. The group came in various shades, some were political in nature like “The Nigeria Youth Movement” a platform for the Nationalists, others were Trade Union and Professional groups. It was the collective activities and efforts of the Nationalists and Journalists in the early 1950‟s that compelled the British Colonial Government to grant Nigeria independence without shedding blood.

Apart from writing editorial comments and reporting the activities of the Nationalists, Trade union students and bodies involved in the struggle for independence on the pages of Newspapers, the journalists however, had no central body through which they could take any action like other groups. What they could not express as a body was done through Newspapers. When Journalism started in Nigeria, the industry was not totally professional affair. However, most of the persons who ventured into the field were those of great reputation and integrity; persons who had the calling, competence and skills to do so.

Eminent Nigerian statement such as Herbert Macurly, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Adamu Ciroma, Ernest Ikoli, Lateef Jakande, among others, all started as journalists, through which they made their indelible marks on National development. This goes to shows that journalism is not for quacks, charlatans or dropout, who have now invaded the industry, claiming to know what they do not know. In essence the Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) of this present time should therefore, beef up their watch dog function to confront the menace with all seriousness. The union must wake up and come up with radical measures to check this situation that smears the integrity and reputation of hardworking journalists. The union should also devise means of encouraging real reporters to draw the attention of events organizers to the presence of fake Journalists in their midst. Media houses need to co-operate with the NUJ in tacking the challenges posed by the fake journalists.

They can do this by highlighting reports about quacks in the industry and punishing the impersonators apprehended. This is the only way to bring about the desired respectability to journalists and indeed respectability to journalists and indeed, the Nigerian journalism industry.

Having looked at the history of the NUJs, this Negative attitude of female student journalists is highly reflected in the Number of mass media houses. Almost all institution of higher learning in Nigeria offer Mass Communication courses leading to the awards of various degrees and certificates, including National Diploma, Higher National Diploma, Bachelor and Master Degrees. The increase in the Number of female graduates from all these institution are not reflected in the media of communication in the country.

Each year, hundreds of female students graduate as Mass Communicators. A close look shows that the Numbers of female Journalist students surpassed the Number of their Male counterpart. But in the field today, a good number of these female graduates are not seen working in the various media houses scatted all over the country. Reference to the convocation booklets from these schools revealed that good Number of female Mass Communication students graduated from those schools. In the year 1997, about 86 female Journalist graduated from the Ogun State Polytechnic, about 150 female Journalists graduated from Federal Polytechnic Oko, that same year the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu had about 120 female graduates in the year 2011.

Similarly with other Mass Communication schools in the country for instance in the year 2008, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) Awka turned out about 58 female graduate from department of Mass Communication Between year 2008, Caritas University Enugu graduated over 50 female journalist. Presently, in my class we are 56 students in Number, 49 out of the 56 students are females while only 5 are male.

In other levels, the Numbers of female students surpassed the Number of

Male students in the department of Mass Communication with great difference.

In recent year, Media houses in the Western countries lack trained journalist in the various communication activities. Invariably, it has been the same in Nigeria and this could be seen in most cases of the media houses in Nigeria. There has been an imbalance in the number of female and male trained Journalists working with them. Those who are worried about this situation said that if there were more women that men seeking Jobs in the media houses and they all have the same ability and background, more men get the job (Women in communication, Pg. 8) she noted that women could only be awarded a job if they are hardworking and qualified, they must be awarded or offered a job in the journalism professions.

Further more, the Enugu Television Authority has about twenty seven trained journalists on its staff, five out of the twenty seven are female. The situation is similar in other media institutions through out Nigeria and in most Western countries.