10th anniversary: ICIR holds conference on media sustainability

AS part of activities lined up for its 10th anniversary celebration, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, will on Wednesday, hold a conference on media sustainability.

The event is scheduled to hold at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

According to the Managing Editor, ICIR, Ajibola Amzat, the issue of financial viability and sustainability is one that media organisations around the world grapple with daily.

This challenge is exacerbated by the erosion of advertising revenues through the rise of technology platforms such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and several others, leaving the media business in a fragile condition.

In the last two years, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the misfortunes of global media enterprise in ways never imagined before.

But while the Western Media to a large extent seems to have found winning formulae to do business profitably, the media in the Global South, particularly countries in Africa, is still struggling to stay afloat.

It is in view of these multiple challenges that the ICIR is inviting media practitioners and other stakeholders to a conference on media sustainability in Nigeria.

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Speaking on the planned conference, the Executive Director and Founder of the ICIR, Dayo Aiyetan observed that “the time is now to have a conversation on the future of the media in Africa, particularly its viability and profitability.

“Many news organisation are not profitable because of dwindling sales and ad revenue, many media companies cannot pay salaries and are laying off staff. The media in Nigeria is haemorrhaging,” he said, adding that industry leaders must discuss how to find profitable ways of running media businesses.

A keynote address on Sustainability Imperatives for African Media would be delivered by Tshepo Mahloele, Chairperson of Arena Holdings, one of Africa’s largest English newspaper publishers in South Africa.

Mr Mahloele is also an entrepreneur who holds major investments in many projects in South Africa and other countries.

A panel discussion that follows would have as discussants Chief Nduka Obaigbena, Chairman, Thisday Newspapers; Ms Chris Anyanwu, CEO, Hot Fm; Mallam Kabir Yusuf, CEO, Daily Trust Newspapers; and Ms Kadaria Ahmed, CEO, RadioNow and Professor Abigail Ogwezzy – Ndisika of the University of Lagos, UNILAG.

Martins Oloja, the Managing Director of Guardian Newspaper Limited will moderate the conversation while Euginia Abu, a respected TV personality, would compère the event.

The ICIR is an independent, non-profit news agency that promotes transparency and accountability through robust and objective investigative reporting.

Its mission is to use excellent, investigative journalism to promote good governance by building a culture of critical reporting in the media.