Gele Agbai had
lofty dreams. As a young reporter based in Owerri, he wanted to work
with a big newspaper. He had thought that having his by-lines in a
national newspaper would make him famous and with a little luck, he
might also strike gold. So when he was employed by a weekly news
magazine in Lagos, it was a dream come true. He did not stop for a
second to think the offer through. But two months into the job without
being paid a dime, Mr Agbai had other things coming.
“What I thought
was a goldmine turned out to be a dust mine,” he said. Luckily for Mr
Agbai who is now the editor of the Nigerian Newspoint, an Owerri-based
newspaper, while big newspapers in the country were going through a
downturn, the local newspaper industry in Owerri was flourishing. The
newspaper industry in Owerri is a perfect example of an oasis in the
desert. At a time the print media industry the world over is barely
trudging through a recession; when newsrooms are increasingly getting
smaller; when patronage is shrinking and sales crashing, the little
newspaper industry in Owerri is flourishing.
Onya Iheanacho,
Head Academic of the International Institute of Journalism, Owerri
thinks the proximity of local newspapers to the news that affects the
everyday lives of the people is core to their survival.
“The closer the headquarters of a newspaper to a community, the easier it is to source for news about that community,” he said.
“Everybody wants
to hear what is happening in the Government House; everybody wants to
hear what is happening with the opposition. There is no way The Sun for
instance, can give full coverage of what is happening in Imo in terms
of politics, economy, socio-political issues. The more you penetrate
communities, the more the patronage. A traditional leader who sees his
picture and that of his community in the paper can even order for 50
copies.” Similarly, Samuelson Iwuoha, an Imo-based political activist
said the in-depth coverage of local news stands the local newspapers
out from the national papers.
“For instance, a
local paper can report what is happening in Ngor-Okpala Local
Government, a national paper like Champion or The Sun cannot report
what is going on there except something remarkable has happened there.”
The politics factor
Mr Agbai believes
that the robust political awareness of the Imo people is another
defining success for the success of the print media industry there.
“It is the people’s interest in politics that is triggering the success of newspapers here,” he said.
“The Imo populace
is newspaper friendly in the sense that they are more politically aware
unlike neighbouring states. You know the Imo people write the greatest
number of petitions against their government”.
Furthermore, Mr
Iheanacho believes that the relative low cost of producing the local
newspapers is another reason. “The truth is that production is not even
expensive in terms of the type of paper they use. They don’t also have
many employees in terms of reporters and support staff. Two to four
people can cover the news. With limited personnel, they don’t expend
much in terms of payment of salaries and they don’t produce en masse.
Some produce 500 to 1000 copies and N50,000 can take care of that, so
once you have two-three adverts you have covered your money. It is very
easy for them to survive.” Mr Agbai’s account of their production and
circulation figure exceeds that of Mr Iheanacho.
“We print about five thousand copies and our sales fluctuate between 2500 and 3000 copies per print run,” he said.
Junk journalism?
Despite the
increasing patronage, some readers have concerns about the quality of
stories and the adherence to professional ethics.
Mr Iheanacho is of
the view that these newspapers should not be taken seriously. “We don’t
look at them as serious tabloid; we call them junk journalism or yellow
journalism so nobody is crazy about what they are doing. People are not
even interested in taking them to court otherwise they break the
ethical codes of the profession daily.” In the same vein, Nelson
Alozie, an Owerri-based lawyer believes that the professionalism of the
newspapers is not up to scratch.
“Most of their
writers are not trained journalists,” he observed. Their news lack
professionalism and objectivity; they pursue a position
single-mindedly.”
But publishers of
these indigenous newspapers have a contrary view. Ikenna Osuoha, the
Political Editor of the Nigerian Horn newspaper in Owerri believes that
the secret of their widespread acceptability is “anchored on their
ability to investigate, the uncompromising stance that is hinged on
objectivity and truth.”
While stating that
his newpaper, The Newspoint, gives equal opportunity to all concerned
to air their views, Mr Agbai, suggested that the peculiar terrain they
operate in sometimes makes it impossible to operate on the same level
of objectivity as national newspapers do.
“I don’t want to
publish and be damned. I want to publish and enjoy the fruit of my
labour. There was a case of a prominent person in the state. We got
information about him. When we approached him, the man admitted that it
happened but pleaded that we shouldn’t destroy him. I greed and dropped
that story. It is not everything that the journalist should publish
even when they are true. There are things that could cause trouble,
even though the society may hail you as a courageous journalist. But
sometimes courage should be kept aside for peace to reign,” said Mr
Agbai.
