📖 ABSTRACT/OVERVIEW
This study empirically investigates news values and editorial story selection processes in Nigerian online journalism, examining how digital journalism metrics, audience analytics, and algorithmic platform feedback are changing the traditional gatekeeping role of editors. The shift from print to digital journalism has introduced new selection pressures through real-time audience data, platform algorithmic amplification, and social media virality potential that may be transforming what counts as news in Nigerian newsrooms. This study employs a mixed-method design combining observation of editorial meetings and selection processes in four major Nigerian online news platforms (Premium Times, The Cable, Pulse Nigeria, and Legit.ng) over eight weeks, interviews with 20 digital editors and journalists, and quantitative analysis of 1,800 published stories coded against a validated news values instrument. The relationship between story characteristics (geographic proximity, prominence, novelty, conflict, human interest, impact) and digital performance metrics (page views, shares, comments) is analysed. Findings reveal significant divergence between traditional news value hierarchies and the algorithmic performance of stories, with human interest and conflict stories consistently outperforming hard news and governance stories on engagement metrics. Editors report tension between journalistic duty to cover significant stories and commercial pressure to prioritise high-traffic content. The geographic proximity news value is increasingly relativised in digital journalism, with national and diaspora audiences diversifying the geographic reference frame. Clickbait-adjacent headline practices are widespread across platforms. The study contributes original Nigerian digital news value evidence and recommends quality metrics alongside traffic metrics for newsroom performance assessment.
Keywords: news values, story selection, online journalism, Nigeria, digital gatekeeping.
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