News Consumption Preferences of University of Ghana Students

Abstract

News generally provide information about issues and events and informs decisions on various aspects of daily life for many people around the world. University students are usually seen as the future workforce of most countries and because they are in learning institutions, they usually have a plethora of information from various sources including the news. This study sought to find out the type of news preferred by the University of Ghana students. Based on a review of related literature and the Uses and Gratification theoretical framework, this study examined the type of news that holds the interest of the student and of what use news is to the respondents. Using a questionnaire as a data collection tool, 200 students from the university were studied. It was discovered that entertainment, sports and political news were the topmost preferred news types. The main use of news to students was to get information. The study identified that students were loyal to content and type of news. Findings showed that the preferred channel for news consumption by the sampled students was online news but this did not exclude the use of traditional news and the reason for seeking news is for the information it provides confirming previous studies on news gratification. This study recommends that future studies focus on online news.