Gilbert Alasa, award winning journalist and blogger writes on the death of the traditional media and the media of the future.
Blogs. Digital media. Data. Apps. Proprietary platforms. Content marketing. SEO.
These are just some of the jargons that most journalists just don’t want to hear these days. And the reasons are simple: they just don’t know how these things work.
Now, if you are reading this, chances are that you know a journalist friend or have come across one in an event. Or you are a journalist yourself. Either way, I want to welcome you to the funeral service of Mr. Journalism. You can sign the condolence register after reading this piece.
Now, Mr. Journalism died long ago. It’s sad that no news medium reported the tragedy. Only a few guys in the newsroom scooped the report. But it remains unclear whether the incident even jolted the few to action. Clearly, many of them saw the signs in the sky. But they were too naive to interpret what stared them in the face. They took it for a joke and had a good laugh.
They watched while newspapers sales figures dwindled. They watched while many firms took to bloggers to advertise their products. They watched as many companies sought more bloggers than traditional journalists for press conferences and brand activation. They watched while unprofessional journalists swooped on the media space, grabbing a sizable share of the goodies. They wondered why Linda Ikeji earns far more than the accrued earnings of their news organisation.
They just don’t stop watching. They watched while their employers struggled to pay salaries and sustain operations. They watched while The News, PM News, Sunday Express, Y! and Entertainment Express went under. You recall the report by the Nigerian Union of Journalists on newspapers owing salaries up to 18 months? That was no joke. They asked no question. They kept on watching. And watching still.
Their story reminds me of the post-dot.com age. Business as usual vanished and many still clung to their old tricks. And just before they knew it, they were blown into smithereens. Computers soon replaced humans. The old order gave way for new, innovative corporate culture. While many grumbled and jeered at the revolution, society moved on and left them behind. Same with the traditional media. The media we all grew to know is now dead. The funeral held years ago. So sad that many people missed it, including the media pro next door.
It is that ignorance that fueled my anger recently when The Nation’s Online Editor, Mr. Lekan Otufodunrin raised the issue about the possible death of journalism. In his article which originated from a media session, a participant was quite vehement that the Nigerian newspapers are not dead as claimed. And if you belong to the class that deny the death of newspapers, you may not be so different from these old folks who refused to accept their reality and tang along with the tides.
However, it is good news that the traditional media is died. It is also cheery to know that many newspapers have since evaporated from the print. After all, death is never the ultimate end of life. It only signals the beginning of another existence, though in a different form and state. What’s happening is that the media we all grew to know is now dead in readiness for a new lease of life. That is the media of the future. It is the media of trends, value creation, readers’ engagement and media that empowers the consumer to act, to think, to create, to make better choices.
The journalism of the future is not the stuff of industry eggheads who refuse to join Twitter or post a cool picture on Instagram. Not the journalist with the coolest creative writing skills. That will be important but secondary. Not the guy who has spent decades in the newsroom. Not the columnist who writes but unable to drive engagement. It has to be the writer who speaks the language of the day, who understands today’s readers and who drives conversations.
Facebook just announced it would bring internet to third world nations via drones. And statistics from Nigeria Social Media Week 2014 reveals that Nigeria leads the rest of the continent in mobile subscriptions and internet usage, hovering around 114 million and 11 million respectively. These revelations are testament to how digital media will phase out the traditional newspapers in no time.
What journalists need is not just a bumper-to-bumper attitude to digital revolution. They need to go ahead to where the digital media party leads. Newspapers must not only tag along with these revolutions, they must rise up to go ahead of the tide. That’s only way they can see the resurrection of Mr Journalism.
Gilbert is an award-winning writer and blogger. You can catch him on Twitter @lasagasy