Commodification of News and Social Media as Threats to Status Conferral Role of Mass Media in Nigeria

The commodification of news which is the infamous commercialisation of news coverage has been critically engaged as a major factor that robs the mass media of its independence in exploring status conferral to the ultimate good of the society. The strengths, weaknesses and application of the Status Conferral Theory propounded in 1948 by Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton as an explainer of the role the mass media plays in the society through news coverage have been discussed with emphasis on the Nigerian paradigm. With the use of Library Research method, the study has been able to establish how the emergence and popularity of the social media have also encroached on the status conferral role of the mainstream media. Specific recommendations have been made on how the narrative can be reversed to reposition the mass media as indispensable social institutions.