AN ANALYSIS OF ONLINE NEWSPAPER READERSHIP PATTERN IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The mass media perform numerous functions which have engendered audience dependence on them. Some of the key media functions are information provision, transmission of culture and education, socialization of people into the norms and mores of their culture, entertainment and interpretation of reported events. Others include: drawing attention to unethical behaviours by individuals, groups and institutions watching over governments to ensure that they behave responsibly and responsively to the tasks for which they were elected, providing reports and mobilization of the citizenry. These functions appear to generate audience expectations of what the media have to do, in line with what the gratifications media audiences tend to derive from their various needs.