Is Digital Media Strangling Traditional media in Africa?

Gone are those days when everyone relied mainly on traditional media – print, TV, and radio – to keep abreast with the latest developments in our societies. Thanks to recent advancements in technology, we can all literally keep up with the news as events unfold. While this is obviously a good development, it hasn’t come without some disadvantages for traditional media practitioners, most of whom are now striving hard to keep up with the trend. Let us now examine how this is playing out, using the Nigerian media industry as a case study.

Are Traditional Media Outlets really Scared of Digital Media?

In the late 2000s when blogs and social media pages were just starting to become means of news dissemination in Nigeria, a lot of people paid little or no attention. Even established media companies ignored this aspect of media and journalism. This trend would then continue until the late 2010s when those small blogs grew to become established media companies capable of shaping public opinion.

Some people think most of the online media companies we now rely on for our daily news feeds just suddenly emerged on the scene. But that is not the case. The truth is that they have always been there, positioning themselves for greatness and carefully taking advantage of hitherto ignored opportunities. Interestingly, a lot of the traditional media companies now perceive them as threats.

“They are really threatened,” said Joseph Olaoluwa, an experienced Business Journalist who recently resigned from Punch Newspaper, Nigeria’s biggest newspaper publisher. “In fact everyone in traditional media is threatened by the rise of digital media. Give or take ten years from now, a lot of things will change and “power” will be deposed,” added Joseph who had previously worked for both traditional and online media.

“The thing is this, niche Journalism is selling. There is an immense need for experts now. Sadly, traditional publishers are in a bubble of mass advancement and layoffs. Most of the owners of digital Journalism niche sites were ex-experienced niche Journalists who were sacked, dissatisfied, or mismanaged. These people have created a huge following with their contacts, and they are now putting traditional Journalism on the edge. Look at the rise of Substack and Newsletters for example. Even industry blogs are different from mainstream papers. People have begun to follow industry websites and people who do better explainers than journalists who simply report news and conspiracies. It’s only a matter of time before the likes of Stears Business, The Republic, Nairametrics, eelive, Maritime 360, FIJ finally take over. The more experienced people leave Journalism and tech advances, the more niche Journalism wins,” Joseph continued.

While much of what Joseph said can easily resonate with journalists across Nigeria, Segun Olakoyenikan, a fact-check journalist with AFP, had a slight disagreement. Speaking to Business Elites Africa, Segun said: “I wouldn’t say digital media is strangling traditional media. Rather, only traditional media platforms that have refused to incorporate digital media into their operations are facing such a threat.

“The challenge with the traditional media has always been poor investment in technology and human capital development in this regard, causing a gradual decline in their audience base, while those operating in the digital space are taking advantage of technology to deliver content to their audiences in a timely and efficient manner. That said, we still have a number of traditional media outlets in Nigeria leveraging on their areas of strength as reliable news sources with strong digital presence, while also competing favourably with those fully playing in the digital space.”

Abiola Odutola, who has many years of traditional media experience and currently heads the editorial team at Nairametrics as the Managing Editor, said digital media has greatly disrupted the industry. He gave examples of Punch Newspaper which recently had to re-strategise its operation model. He,. however, pointed out the disadvantages this development has presented.

“No doubt, the new media is strangling the conventional media. Just last year, traditional media operators were forced to reduce their pages and print run. Asides that, some of them have had to re-strategise towards strengthening their digital media arms.

“For instance, recently, Punch Newspaper asked a great number of its senior staff to resign and employed young reporters who are digital media savvy. However, this development also came with its challenges, the greatest of them being that it has resulted in a drop in the quality of investigative stories. Most of the traditional media, especially the Magazines, are known for their investigative reports unlike their digital counterparts,” Mr Odutola told Business Elites Africa.

The Digital Revolution in Media is here to Stay

Whichever you look at the situation, one thing is clear: the digital revolution in the media industry is here to stay, which is why digital media is one of the trending businesses right now. So far, this revolution has mostly been a positive development because, with the entrance of different online media companies comes more opportunities and preferences for both journalists and advertisers.

One more thing that is important to mention is the fact that the advent of digital media made it possible for some of the world’s biggest media companies (such as BBC World Service, AFP and DW etc) to make in-roads into the African media industry. Again, this has presented numerous opportunities especially in terms of employment. However, one disadvantage that has come with this development is the fact that quite a lot of the local media firms cannot competitively match up to their foreign counterparts due to limited resources. This is the same point that the Chairman of APO Group, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, was making when he told us…

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EDITOR’S NOTE:

Continue with the rest of the interview on page 68 of our 20 Trending and most Profitable Businesses in 2021 edition. Click here to read it.