Olumide Iyanda erstwhile Saturday Editor of Daily Independent in this interview with Seye Joseph speaks on a new Sunday newspaper, The Niche to be launched soon and other career issues.
Most journalists are not known to stay in a particular media organisation throughout their career . They usually work in three to four media organisations before they retire. Olumide Iyanda, former staff of Tempo Magazine, Punch Newspaper and until recently Editor, Saturday Independent Newspaper is typical example.
Iyanda is now an Executive Editor of The Niche Newspaper, a Sunday national newspaper that is set to hit the newsstand soon.
“People are meant to move to next stage of life for career advancement or change in career. It is not a new thing for a journalist to move from one media house to another,” he said in an interview with Media Career Services.
Iyanda, a graduate of History in University of Ibadan said The Niche Newspaper has what it takes to withstand the storm of entering into what is considered an already saturated newspaper market.
“The most important thing that Niche on Sunday has is the people. As long as the people are committed to the cause of this project, it will work because on board we have people who have been in the industry for a while. We have people with different interests and areas of strength.
“People say papers come and go, but I want to say some have come and stay. The Niche Newspaper is not about the people working there, it is about the people we are reporting. We want every family member to have a stake in the paper. So it is about them not about the staff here,” Iyanda stated.
The entertainment writer who is passionate about the media industry recalled what was done to reposition Saturday Independent for competitive advantage when he was the Editor.
“Thank God for someone like Funke Egbemode who has the kind of mentality that I have and we were not there to impress anybody with our knowledge and grammar; we did stories that add to life in the paper. We were not reporting ourselves we were reporting other people so we got the best of brains that did the job very well.”
The multi-award winner is a recipient of Nollywood Outstanding Personality of the Year Award in 2009 by the Association of Movie Journalists and Award for Advocacy and Protection of Intellectual Property, Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria in March, 2009.
His other awards are Editorial Division Best Worker, Independent Newspapers Limited, July 2005; Award for Outstanding Reports/Articles, Guinness Nigeria Plc, February, 2004; Staff of the Year, Saturday Punch, December 2003 and Entertainment Writer of the Year, Award for Musical Excellence in Nigeria, December. 2001.
He noted that the most successful journalists he knows in the industry are not the ones who do the work because of the money but for the love of the job.
“It is good to take opportunities that come to you and opportunities come in many ways. Some come in form of awards some come in form of fellowships and attending career enhancement program,” said Iyanda who also urged journalists keep learning to enrich their knowledge.