A South African media expert, Christoph Plate, who doubles as the Director Africa Media Programme of Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, has charged the media to focus on self-critiquing and diversifying activities to achieve followership and audience.
Plate, who spoke during the 15th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) media lecture on Wednesday in a Twitter space, said media organisations need to become more resilient and intentional in the establishment of publishing houses and organising public lectures.
Plate also noted that the challenges of funding digitalised advertisement in the media should not discourage newsrooms from self-critiquing to help analyze the journalism being practised, adding it is necessary for the media to engage in soul-searching and self-reflection so as to achieve the best practice of journalism.
Editor of the BussinessDay, Tayo Fagule, in his remarks, said it is not an easy task for media organisations to generate money, especially in Nigeria.
“The journey of getting people to part with their money to pay for content is a marathon, especially in Nigeria. With many media organizations having digital software, the subscription model is possible,” he said.
He added that BussinessDay experienced a surge in readers’ subscriptions during the 2020 pandemic, adding that the subscription dropped after the pandemic was over.
WikkiTimes had earlier reported that the two-day WSCIJ media lecture would start today with many speakers scheduled to discuss the theme: ‘Building a Resilient Nigerian Media and Democracy’.
Some of the speakers expected to speak today include Balarabe Ilelah, Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC); Adedoja Allen, Managing Director/CEO of City FM 105.1; Christoph Plate, Director Media Programme, Sub-Saharan Africa Konrad Adenauer Foundation; Taiwo Fagbule, Editor BusinessDay and Anita Eboigbe, Operation Lead Big Cabal Media.
Speakers lined up for the second day of the parley are Ropo Sekoni, Board Chairman of WSCIJ; Toun Okewale-Sonaiya, Chief Executive Officer of Women Radio; Subomi Plumptre, Co-Founder of Volition Capital Investment Limited; Idayat Hassan, Director of Center for Democracy and Development and Augustine Agbonsuremi, Executive Director of Progressive Impact Organisation for Development.
