The Relevance Of Reading Newspapers By University Students: A Case Study Of The Catholic University Of Eastern Africa (cuea)

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relevance of reading newspapers among university students at The Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). The study was guided by the following objectives: To examine the motivating factors that influence reading of newspapers among university students in The Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), to find out the extent which newspapers are relevant among university students in CUEA and to suggest what can be done to create newspaper relevance among university students in CUEA. The study employed a mixed research design. The target population of the study consisted of all final (4th) students from all the eight (8) faculties and the staff members who are posted in the library section. Simple random sampling procedure was used to select at least 10% of the target population in the sampled faculties. One hundred students were targeted but only eighty took part in the study. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the selected sample. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, employing both quantitative and qualitative approach. Data from questionnaires was purely analyzed quantitatively and presented in frequencies and percentages. The study came up with the following key findings: It was found that politics, general knowledge and entertainment influenced the reading of newspapers among students to some extent. However, the relevance of newspaper reading among university students was a little bit compromised in that it didn’t fully capture the educational aspects of students thus not many studetns opted to read newspapers for educational purposes. Additionally, through the newspapers the students were able to obtain information on the issues of fashion, sports, political issues in the society and science and technology developments. From the findings the study recommended the following: The information should be clear and precise in delivering the message. This will reduce confusion and misinterpretation of some political statements made in the papers. Also the papers should try as much as possible to be non-partisan so as to report unbiased political news to the reader and, the newspapers should add more content on university student’s entertainment activities. These include university games, music festival and dramas and cultural activities in the universities. This will boost the reading of the newspapers because the information will be more relevant to them. The chance of seeing themselves covered in the paper may improve the number of activities taking place in the universities too.