A media executive and former Chief Executive Officer of the Daily Times of Nigeria, Chief Tola Adeniyi, has argued that despite the proliferation of the new media and the traction it seems to be getting, of late, the traditional media would still continue to remain relevant, as far as the reading public, in Nigeria, is concerned.
Adeniyi, who said this in an exclusive with the Nigerian Tribune recently, in Lagos, acknowledged the increasing popularity of the new media, especially the social media platforms, such as Facebook, WhatsApp and others, in the nation’s media space, but noted those platforms would rather play a complementary role to the traditional media, rather than sending it to oblivion.
The former Managing Director and Editor in Chief of African Newspapers of Nigeria (ANN Plc), publishers of the Tribune titles, also argued that though the new media enjoy that ‘instantaneous’ advantage over the traditional media, he, however, posited that quite a sizeable number of readers would always fall back on the traditional media to authenticate whatever information picked up on such social media platforms.
While lamenting the present state of the media, all over the globe, Adeniyi called for an enhancement of the working conditions of practitioners to enable them effectively discharge their duties as watch-dogs of the society.
“The media has got a key role to play, especially in the building of this nascent democracy of ours. But there is no way such can be achieved if practitioners in the industry are not well taken care of,” he added.
The author of the recently-launched socio-political book, “In the Belly of the Vultures,” however, counselled practitioners in the traditional media space on the need to up their games, by providing their readers with exclusive stories and reports, which he argued, would make them stand out of from the pack.
Besides, Adeniyi also counselled media chiefs not to jettison human interest stories, since the average reader would have a way of relating to such seemingly ‘unserious’, but highly interesting reports.
“The world is becoming less serious. We no longer appreciate serious reports, but rather those reports that have to do with betrayals, love and sometimes infidelity between husbands and wives. And the earlier those that provide editorial directions to these media outfits realise this, the better,” he stated.
Chief Adeniyi, also stressed the need for publications to enhance their readership base by coming up with exclusive reports; since that would be their differentiating factor in the market space.
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