| Abstract: |
The study investigated Journalists’ experiences in the fight against drug abuse in Nigeria through participatory photography. The aim was to present the media as a panacea for ameliorating drug related crimes in Nigeria. The objectives were to find out journalists’ experiences and constrains in fighting drug and substance abuse related crimes in Anambra State and their opinions of what new strategies could be employed by the media for more positive results. Anchored on Theory of Reasoned Action by Mark Fishben, the study adopted focus group discussion research design with structured questions as data collection instrument. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 27 Journalists for three sessions of
focus group discussion from population of 570 journalists from Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Anambra chapter. Explanatory building Report was used to analyze data collected from the field. Results revealed participants’ displayed pictures of people, items and places with narratives showing that media have delved into investigative reporting, increased visibility of group’s sensitization programmes and produced effective pictorial communications in the fight against drug and substance abuse related issues. Participants enumerated unethical activities of unprofessional people in new media, inadequate funds and lack of timely support from stakeholders as major constrains, participants suggested
photo /video filtering and restriction devices in all new media platforms to achieve ethical and positive pictorial communications, increased collaborations between media and stakeholders and internet data reward for exposure to drug communications. The researcher recommended implementation of participants’ suggestions for improved pictorials in the fight against drug abuse. |
