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Editor of TheNewsGuru.com (TNG), Mr Ediri Oyibo has appealed to donor funders to look beyond their present funding models to include supporting capital or running costs for media houses.
Mr Oyibo made the appeal in a paper presented on the survival of newsrooms in Nigeria at the Centre for Journalism, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Oyibo observed that media support from donor agencies is often fragmented, ad hoc, and in many cases limited to the training of journalists and grants for innovative proposals.
He stressed that institutional support has become necessary for news publishers to win back financial independence, which Oyibo said will go a long way in promoting press freedo in the country.
Citing the example of Google News Initiative (GNI) Journalism Emergency Relief Fund (JERF), the TNG Editor noted that quality journalism is capital-intensive.
He joined professionals and scholars in the media industry to call for the establishment of a National Media Development Fund in Nigeria.
He said: “The paucity of revenue means that many media houses have joined the bandwagon of low-quality journalism.
“Publications that want to do high-quality news reporting are in a dilemma. They need to pay competitive salaries, fund special reports and manage the cost of operations.
“Sadly, the business of news has shrunk, especially in the aftermath of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Newsrooms are left in dire need of interventions.
“However, care must be taken in doing this in order not to undermine the editorial independence of media houses”.
Oyibo noted that while innovation represents a way out of the industry disruption facing news media today, innovation also requires resources, something he said many media companies find in short supply.
“Google has taken this path. Interventions such as the Google News Initiative (GNI) Journalism Emergency Relief Fund (JERF) have survived many newsrooms in the past.
“Professionals and scholars in the media industry have made a case for the establishment of a National Media Development Fund in Nigeria. There is no better time than now for it,” he stated.
Oyibo also cautioned against the trap in the hurry to break the news. He urged media houses to guide against misinformation, which he said media platforms can avoid if they invest in quality journalism.
In the light of the proliferation of online news platforms, Oyibo harped on the need to also guide against abuse of the ethics of the profession
“For new entrants venturing into the media industry, to forestall a revenue challenge, founders must be able to answer the question of what equity is available for the business.
“How solvent it is. How long it will take before the news business runs into a financial crisis if funding delays. This is important in order to guide against abuse of the ethics of the profession,” Oyibo stated.