Abstract:
The study embarked on discovering the audience awareness, accessibility and readership of online newspapers in Maasai Mara University. Presently, the level of online newspaper awareness among the people especially students is on the increasing rate as technology is becoming more advanced to the extent that people can access online newspaper using their mobile phone. Research questions aimed at seeking the answer as to whether the students were aware of online newspapers, whether they read online newspapers and the limiting factors to the access of online newspapers. In particular, the researcher strived to find out the extent of utilization of online newspapers in Maasai Mara University. The researcher did a literature review of various works that had diversity in terms of geography, some local, Indians and others were British as well as American academicians. Research methodology employed the use of questionnaires to collect data. Target population consisted of 5000 students from Maasai Mara
University. The researcher then had a random sample of 80 students in the population and was able to receive feedback from respondents. The finding from the statistical analysis are represented in depth through pie charts, tables and graphs. From this study, the researcher found out that Standard Digital online newspaper was the most preferred newspaper among students of
Maasai Mara University. The students mostly liked entertainment section in online newspaper as compared to news. Major limitations to the accessibility and readership of online newspapers at
Maasai Mara University were limited access to Wi-Fi (internet connection), low speed of the internet and limited space in the library. There were several recommendations of this study. To begin with, the number of newspapers being subscribed in the library should be increased. The exorbitant price of Internet subscription should also be lowered significantly and various socioeconomic environmental problems mentioned in this paper should be solved. To some extent, there are some responsibilities on the part of the newspaper publishers and editors as well. News, views and analyses should be written in an unbiased way, morality and ethics should be upheld at any cost. A substantial number of educational and informative articles and features should be published in the newspapers on a regular basis so that students can gain knowledge and understanding from these articles and features. Finally, the researcher is able to draw the insights from the outcomes of the analysis to outline the conclusion. It can be concluded that online newspapers are essential in everyday life of a students. Newspaper reading also improves the communication skills and creative faculties and help the readers achieve an unbiased and informative worldview
