AESTHETICAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY JOURNALISM PRACTICE: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Abstract

In today’s competitive media environment, aesthetics is one of the most vital elements that media producers deploy to keep afloat in the business of information dissemination. Research has shown that appropriate application of aesthetical elements such as sound, pictures, motion, layout and formatting greatly enhances audience preference of media outfits. Aesthetical discuss in the media today has extended beyond the question of mere beauty and appearance to address the bigger question of how the various elements facilitate the communication process, specifically with regards to creating and sharing meaning effectively to the audience. Consequently, contemporary aesthetical discourse in the media industry incorporates a wide array of other pertinent issues such as textual and grammatical issues, contextual issues, legal and ethical issues etc. This expanded scope of aesthetical discourse seeks to juxtapose the drive towards appeal of media contents with the core questions of the fidelity and integrity of the entire communication process. Notably, the advent of online journalism has heightened this quest and thrown up new challenges to the study and practice of media aesthetics. Using qualitative research approach, this study discusses aesthetical issues that are germane to contemporary journalism practice and stresses their imperatives in the era of online journalism. The study demonstrates the enormity of concerns that media aesthetics addresses beyond the questions of beauty and pleasure and concludes that in today’s competitive media environment, media aesthetics must be accorded the desired priority. It therefore behoves on media entrepreneurs to appreciate the enormity of issues that aesthetics represents in today’s media industry holistically, not just from the narrow sense of beauty and pleasure.