In their key presentation at the recent All Nigeria Editors Conference organised by the Nigeria Guild of Editors, three top media executives offered insights on the state of the media in the country and suggestions to overcome challenges faced by the industry.
Below are the summary of the papers presented by Mr Gbemiga Ogunleye, Provost of the Nigeria Institute of Journalism, Mr Gbenga Adefaye, Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard Newspapers and Mr Edward Dickson, Managing Director, Nigeria Tribune.
Re-invent journalism and the curricula – Ogunleye
Opportunities are shrinking in almost every profession. There are job losses in the banks; job losses in the manufacturing sector; even the civil service is not spared of the digital hurricane.
The thing to do, in my view, is to reinvent journalism practice and the curricula.
Even politicians who specialize in rigging elections will tell you that they have reinvented the process!
We need a new multimedia newsroom. A newsroom with digital walls to show live statistics and an innovation desk to experiment across all platforms and introduce new products. And of course, reporters who will tell stories differently asking the right questions: Who is the heroine? Who is the victim?
- If these are done, opportunities in the media, rather than shrink, will expand!
Media must collaborate and cooperate to survive– Adefaye
For me, ours is a landscape of growth in number, despite harsh economic indicators. There may be variances in the spread of fortunes of the media, the increasing number of electronic media and new media signifies confidence in media development. We just must perfect our act of competition that is fair, equitable and serves the public good.
Two, the global village is real and virtual. However, the virtual Village Square meeting can define and refine own rules of engagement, using the Google key above. Then we can defend Free Speech with responsibility. We must build capacity and bring our credibility to bear on the use of new media to probably crowd out the unprofessional, unskilled, dangerous social media engagement.
We are in a democracy, where there is no other choice than Constitutional Order. It is only a strong, free and independent media that can check inefficiency, corruption and lack of accountability of state actors.
The media must collaborate and cooperate to survive. That’s the lead from the marketplace. The experience from history tells me that the current travails notwithstanding, we will survive to tell the stories and write the history. That’s what is the DNA of our media
Continous Re-invention – Dickson
The key to sustainable success is continuous reinvention. The advent of the new media is a call to us as media managers to reinvent our organizations. It is also an invitation to us to study the trends in our industry and correctly interpret these so that we know how to turn these to our advantage. If we continue to do this, we will keep our organizations not just afloat but relevant.
