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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this is to examine students perception on the credibility of online news blogs and to determine whether educational background impact on the general use of online news blogs employing a theoretical construct of perception, media dependence and gate keeping theory. Using questionnaire, a survey was used to sample the opinions of 270 respondents in Mass Communication, University of Benin in an attempt to find solutions to the stated problems. Findings from the study shows that online news blogs are not credible sources of information because they help in spreading fake news. The study concludes that students do not rely on them as a major source of news, educational background does not influence the usage of online news blogs and that despite their shortcomings; they have set a pace especially in news gathering, processing and dissemination. The study recommends that government should promote news literacy and strong professional journalism and also enlighten or educate news industry to provide high-quality journalism in order to build public trust, correct fake news and disinformation without legitimizing them. Also, educational institutions should make informing people about news literacy a high priority.
