Bookclub: Truth, Trust, and the Future of Journalism in Nigeria

Tony Onyima in his, “Press Freedom and Safety of Journalists in Nigeria”, touches on how lack of safety nets impedes freedom of the press. Citing the arrests of Agba Jalingo in Cross River, and Steven Kefas in Southern Kaduna and the killing of the Saudi Arabian journalist Kamal Khassoggi in Turkey, he concludes that, “Where journalists are unsafe, democracy is diminished, where they are protected and informed citizenship and democratic governance are strengthened.” It is difficult to fault this.

Hamza Idris’ “Digital Journalism: Multimedia Skills, Cybersecurity and Audience-Centred Reporting” in Chapter seven deals with how digital technologies have reshaped and transformed how news is produced and consumed. He avers that the emergence of internet, social media, mobile technologies etc. have changed the dynamics of news, thus making it more “audience-centred”. Making copious example of the Daily Trust, Nigeria’s unarguably the most converged newsroom in the country, he concludes, “The contemporary journalist is no longer simply a writer or broadcaster but a multimedia communicator capable of producing content across diverse digital platforms.” (p174).

In Chapter eight, Sylvester Odion Akhaine in his “Media, INEC, Voters and Path to Credible Elections” traced the role of the media in ensuring transparent and credible elections through voter education and focusing on the electoral body to ensure nonpartisanship. As the country moves toward another election next year, he states that “INEC has its constitutional role clearly defined – to manage elections in a credible manner..” (P221), while “Voters require continuing education to enhance their capacity for informed choice in ways that undermine the tendency to succumb to financial inducement by unscrupulous politicians. Both the media and INEC can accelerate their activities in this regard. If these critical stakeholders play their roles, it is hoped that the Nigerian democratic train would be steered on the right course.” (p222). So much optimism as we march into 2027.

In closing Section two, Chapter nine by the duo of Eluem Emeka Izeze and Marcel Mbamalu, while dissecting “Journalism and Good Governance: Media as Public Watchdog”, approach this must talked about role of the media with the finesse of professionals who know their onions. Listing obstacles to the effectiveness of the media in playing the role of a watchdog they aver that, “In Nigeria, studies of media and governance show that the press served the public interest most when it operated from an adversarial position.” (p228).

This is the naked truth. Since 1999 when the country returned to democracy, attempts to hold politicians accountable by a section of the media have been viewed in some quarters as “threats to democracy” and this has indirectly led to, “A sustained drop in public confidence in mainstream news organisations, particularly in contexts where digital platforms have disrupted traditional journalism models.” (p223). How does the media get out of this bind? Izeze and Mbamalu believe, “Journalism remains essential to good governance…. The future of good governance is inseparable from that of journalism. Without a credible and trusted media system, accountability weakens, and governance outcomes deteriorates.” (p246).

The last segment of the book, under the broad theme of “The Future: Reinventing Journalism for an Evolving Media Ecosystem”, has five chapters. The first under this section (Chapter ten) by Chinyere Stella Okunna and Adaobi Olivia Okeke is titled: “Journalism Education and Journalistic Skills for the Future.” The writers take a comprehensive look at the training of 21st Century media personnel in line with world standards and current realities. While lauding the unbundling of the courses under what used to be known as mass communication into eight courses, the writers say, “Contemporary journalists are expected to produce contents across multiple formats, including text, video, podcasts, infographics, social media posts and interactive reports.” (p267).

Chapter eleven by Angela Agoawike with the title “The Future of News: Reinventing Journalism for Public Good”, vividly reminds me of Mr Muyiwa Adetiba’s TNT (Today’s News Today). In the 1990s, Mr Adetiba’s TNT was an early morning/mid-afternoon newspaper that prided itself as giving you ‘today’s news today.’ According to it, you don’t have to wait till the next morning to read about what happened on that day. It was perhaps Nigeria’s precursor of news on the go that later became the internet! In examining how to make journalism to be relevant despite “the rush by smartphone wielding members of the public to share news without first verifying its accuracy, journalism’s agenda setting and gatekeeping roles have been largely diminished.” (p281). However, she is optimistic that this trend could be salvaged. Her prescription? “Journalism may be struggling, but not because it has become irrelevant….Journalism must navigate the challenges posed by digital disruption to serve the public interest again. Therein lies the future of news.” (p295).

The major concern of the writers are issues of trust, truth and digital transformations and how these three have combined to change the way news is consumed and produced. Dapo Olorunyomi in “Digital Transformation and African Newsroom” takes a kaleidoscopic view of the changes that have occurred across the newsroom on the continent and how this has affected their operations. While agreeing that platforms such as Google, Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube and others influence news, he declares that, “The newsroom is therefore no longer merely a factory for producing news but a hub for curating, interpreting, and validating knowledge generated across digital networks…The newsroom of the future will therefore be more than a publisher. It will be part laboratory, archive, part civic institution, and part knowledge ecosystem” (p309, 326) All these would be achieved only if the media maintained continuous trust, truth and credibility.

Lanre Arogundade’s “Diversity and Inclusion in the Newsroom”, discusses how the media could help attain diversity in a multicultural, multinational and multilingual society like Nigeria. He believes the media is capable of doing this because “newsrooms can aggregate a range of experiences, perspectives, languages, to represent society properly and strengthen democratic deliberation more accurately.” (349).

The closing chapter by Azu Ishiekwene, “Economic Sustainability of the News Media: A Personal Story”, should interest a lot of us here today. How do we make news production self-sustaining and not dependent on ‘subsidy’ (Nigeria’s most abused word, if you know what I mean).  After taking a look at how newspapers have survived in the past based on advertisements, copy sales and other business models, he concludes that digital disruption has since made these obsolete and unsustainable. Looking at other options such as innovation, diversification, billing big tech companies as recently approved in Australia, co-created contents as well as philanthropy and grants, he concludes that journalism can be strong, “if only it is financially viable.”

The writer of Writing for the Media and Monetising It, while assessing efforts and success of The Guardian in the United Kingdom in building a paywall for readers of its contents failed to tell us how efforts by The Punch Newspapers to do the same was frustrated by other leading newspapers who never thought it necessary. Perhaps, if they had followed suit, we may have been telling a different story today rather than allow our contents to be feasted upon freely by readers and tech companies who reap from our sweat!!!

The missing link

Consequently, this book deals extensively with the responsibilities of journalists and how to meet up with the changes in their profession. Fine lines of thoughts. However, with all the technological and digital advancements that have been made; how do we ensure we turn these into revenue yielding ventures to benefit the producers of the news and contents? This is an area we must focus our attention on. How far has the Guild’s appeal to the federal government to help make data companies pay for using our contents? Australia has done it, what are we waiting for? Journalism should no longer be treated as a social service or charity. Journalists have families and societal obligations to fulfill.

Finally, I want to salute the leadership of the Nigerian Guild of Editors for this landmark publication. The Guild should continue with such initiatives and not allow itself to be turned into a social club. This effort reminds me of the tenure of Lanre Arogundade as Chairman of the Lagos Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in terms of publications. The Guild has really brought the ‘Gown to the Town, and the Town to the Gown’, with the surfeit of experienced editors who came together to share their thoughts and demonstrate that they are not only good at editing or identifying news and features, but they are capable of enriching our curriculum with on the field notes written with academic candour and sagacity.

I will like to toe the line of Prof. Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika, who in her Foreword wrote that, “This is not a book to be placed quietly on a library shelf but rather a working manual for survival, a manifesto for democratic resilience and indispensable guide for anyone who cares about the future of truth.” (pxxviii).  It should be made available to all institutions across the country where media studies are taught.

The book editors deserve all accolades for distilling the thoughts of editors into what I strongly believe is a sterling academic addition to the growing literature of media texts written by our own people from our perspectives and experience.

• Dr Oyegbile is a journalist, writer and media scholar. He can be reached at: yinka2005@gmail.com