By Correspondent in Akwanga
As the revenues acruable to media organisations dwindle due to COVID-19 pandemic and fierce competition from the social media platforms, traditional media organisations, a don has challenged media managers to develop new business strategies that would shore up their revenue base.
Prof. Nicholas Iwokwagh, Dean , School of ICT, FUT Minna, gave the advice in a lecture entitled” Stay safe , staying in business”
The Reporters gathered that the event was organised for kogi and Nasarawa Journalists by ActionAid with funding from GCERF with the theme: media masterclass, policy engagement for PVE during COVID-19 in kogi , Nasarawa States at Kini resort Akwanga, Nasarawa state.
The don argued that though the digital revolution taking place in the media industry came with huge advantages, it had also placed serious financial burden on the existing traditional media in the country to cope with.
He expressed concern that unless the managers and owners of the traditional media organisations think within and outside the box to tap into the financial opportunities created by various platforms, they might be on their way out of business.
He also advised media practitioners to leverage on platforms such as ePaper ,YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagrams to generate revenue for their organisations rather than depending on sales from hard copy and advertisement which are gradually loosing public appeal.
The dean further challenged media managers to be creative and innovative enough to making news a commodity which is sold and bought as a panacea to remaining in business.
The scholar also called on the management of media institutions in Nigeria to develop and diversify their contents to making news sellable, thereby generating huge resources.
He called on Journalists on the frontline of COVIDV-19 and other emergencies to take personal safety very seriously to stay alive to report the event rather than being reported.
While calling on Journalists covering emergencies to make use of data, he urged them to fact-check the data before dishing them to the public to check rumours from some social media platforms .
The academic called on Journalists to write purposive and authoritative features on the pandemic and play up pharmaceutical interventions, as a confidence building for the citizenry.
Iwokwagh explained that the outbreak of COVIDV-19 pandemic had no doubt altered way of lives,hence media managers were expected to use critical thinking to convert the threats to bumper of opportunities to keep thousands of media workers on their jobs.
He expressed delight that opportunities created by the deadly virus had started manifesting with the introduction of zoom, virtual meeting which had reduced incidence of physical contact .
The professor, who noted that the difference between trained and citizens Journalists was the adherence to the ethics of the profession, warned journalists against sensationalisation of stories.