The Chairman of ThisDay Newspaper and Arise Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, has said that media owners must use innovative measures to raise funds to enable them to survive Nigeria’s economic realities.

Speaking at the second edition of the Lateef Jakande Annual Memorial Lecture with the theme: ‘Rapidly Changing Media Landscape: Media Survival Strategies,’ organised by the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) in Lagos, Obaigbena said the social media platforms like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Instagram and X must pay for using intellectual properties (IP) of media publication in the country.

Obaigbena lamented that print journalism in Nigeria was becoming old-fashioned, noting that disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) have modified the news gathering and dissemination approach. According to him, AI if properly used, could advance the profession.

He said: “We are only a means of distribution of information. As journalists, we write stories and engage with audiences. The newspaper is just a form of distribution of that news. Your phone is for distribution. Your computer is for distribution. So, let us not confuse the idea and the means of distribution.

“The means of distribution is changing, but good journalism will not change. However, what is good journalism? Old-fashioned truth, getting your facts right, telling the story as it is, engaging with your audiences and building a future.

“However, that does not mean that journalism is in crisis. We have what they call artificial intelligence. So the world we are going to, we are confronted and challenged by artificial intelligence. They can take your identity. And create anything. So the threat we face is in AI, but AI is a machine.

“We have to train AI. We have to treat AI. We have to challenge AI. Then AI will respond. Are we ready for a world that is being changed by artificial intelligence? Where young people of seven and eight take the computer, take their phones and can do a lot with it, therefore, my friends and colleagues that is where we face challenges, but we can also use it for good.

“We are in a country where the young are much more than the old. We need to get them employed and we need to banish poverty. We are here, faced with newspapers and magazines, in the battles for survival.

“How do we survive, is what I’ve been told to address today, in newspapers and magazines. First is to have the laws changed where intellectual property is recognised as an asset.

“We have to enable the IP, the work of your brain, as an asset class. That asset class you have has to be bankable. So you can raise money with it, and you can create value. The first thing that I challenge the Minister of Information is to ensure that we pass a law that those who use our work online, call them Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Instagram or any other must pay for it.

“If we get payment for the work we do every day as journalists, we’ll be in a far better place. That’s the first survival instinct that we must build either as a group, led by the Nigeria Guild of Editors, working with the Federal Government to ensure that our intellectual property, what we do, is shared every day on social media, once that order is paid for. That is the first step. The next step is to be prepared for AI,” he added.

On his part, the Publisher of Vanguard Media Group, Sam Amuka, said producing a newspaper is now a tug of war in Nigeria. He said most people don’t buy newspapers on the street anymore because, by the time the newspaper hits the street, it is already online.

“The reason we don’t see newspapers on the street is that it is not profitable for the vendor. If he doesn’t sell enough to make some money for himself, he won’t do that job. And how do you sell enough when most people are not reading the paper? Here we are.

“They said time waits for no man. We have to decide and think about what we can do if we want to get a pass. It takes a lot of work to publish a hard copy paper. It is stressful. You see people in different sectors, including reporters, journalists and other sections all involved in its production.

“It takes a lot of work to produce this kind of content, yet we don’t sell it. What is the essence if it is not sold? We must do our serious thinking. How many titles are making money from now? We need to engage our minds. We need to do more thinking,” he said.

The President of NGE, Eze Anaba, said: “As media managers, we have to think of innovative and sustainable solutions. We should also find ways of addressing the impact of new technologies in every part of our work as journalists and media practitioners.

“We have to work harder and do more to adjust and adapt to survive and bring our work to new audiences.

“The search for solutions or ideas on the way forward formed the basis for the theme of today’s lecture. And there is no better person to deal with this topic of survival of the media than the man who has survived and has continued to break new ground in the person of the chairman of this day-on-the-rise television. Ladies and gentlemen, we require solutions on the way forward today,” he explained.

The event was graced by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, represented by Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso; Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, represented by Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria, Mr Ali M. Ali; former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; former Minister of Foreign Affairs, General Ike Nwachukwu; Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of New Telegraph Newspapers, Ayodele Aminu; Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of Punch Newspapers, Adeyeye Joseph; Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of TheSun Newspapers, Onuoha Ukeh; wife of former Lagos State governor, Alhaja Sikirat Jakande; President of Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, Maureen Chigbo; and Senior Special Assistant (media) to President Bola Tinubu, Tunde Rahman; among others. (New Telegraph)

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