| Abstract: |
The rapid proliferation of smartphone technology across Nigeria has fundamentally
altered the landscape of visual communication, enabling virtually every mobile
phone owner to function as a photographer without formal training, professional
accreditation, or adherence to the ethical standards that govern photojournalism.
This development has generated a severe and accelerating economic crisis for
professional photojournalists in North West Nigeria, as clients progressively
abandon trained professionals in favour of cheaper, untrained smartphone
photographers whose work is perceived as commercially adequate for most
purposes. Specifically, the study sought to achieve two main objectives: first, to
examine the extent to which untrained amateur smartphone photographers have
contributed to the economic decline of professional photojournalists in North West
Nigeria; and second, to assess the structural and institutional factors that have
facilitated the displacement of professional photojournalists by untrained amateur
smartphone photographers in North West Nigeria. Adopting a convergent parallel
mixed-methods design, the study combined a structured questionnaire survey
administered to 400 professional photojournalists purposively selected across the
seven states of North West Nigeria with 20 in-depth interviews recruited through
snowball sampling. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS version 25.0
through descriptive statistics and inferential tests including Pearson Chi-Square and
Spearman rank correlation at p \leq 0.05, while qualitative data were subjected to
thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke (2006). Results reveal that 81.4% of
respondents confirmed significant income decline attributable to amateur smartphone competition, and all three null hypotheses were rejected at p = 0.000.
Grounded in Christensen's (1997) Disruptive Innovation Theory, Mosco's (2009)
Political Economy of Communication, and the Labour Market Segmentation
Theory of Doeringer and Piore (1971), the paper recommends the urgent
development of a mandatory professional certification framework by the Nigerian
Press Council in collaboration with the Nigerian Union of Journalists to protect the
economic and professional standing of trained photojournalists across North West
Nigeria. |
