Babajide Okeowo
Publisher of City People Magazine, Seye Kehinde has urged the Federal Government to make the economy friendlier for the media industry to make it sustainable.
His appeal is against the backdrop of the harsh economic condition under which the media industry, particularly, the print version has operated in recent times due to the high cost of printing materials.
Kehinde spoke during a courtesy visit to the Ikeja, Lagos office of the latest entrant into the media industry, The Nigerian Xpress.
According to him, “For a very long time now, the media has been struggling to survive in the harsh economic condition. This is because most government policies have an impact on a fragile industry like the media industry. Any little thing affects the media. I am hoping that in the coming year, we will have an enabling environment that can also move growth and promote development.”
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The media guru also revealed that despite the challenges posed by the New Media, there is still a bright future for the print version.
“In the last few years, we have been experimenting with a lot of things. The feedback we get is that people still want to read their hard copy irrespective of the online platforms. Advertisers and event organizers still want you to put their events and adverts in the print edition. This tells you that there is still a market out there. It might not be as huge as it used to be in the past, but there is still a market out there for the newspaper,” he revealed.
He also charged media practitioners to be business-oriented in order for newspapers to thrive.
“We all have to be business-oriented. The days of just paying attention to the journalism aspect of the profession, which is to only write stories are long gone. We need to balance the professional angle with the business angle in order for the project to survive. The newspaper has to survive alongside the quality of the writing.”
He commended the management of the newspaper for the good quality of the newspaper and urged that the tempo should be sustained.
“This is a very brilliant publication; looking at it you will see that there is a touch of professionalism to it. The first impression I had was that it looked like a newspaper that has been around for so long. This shows the level of professionalism that has been put into the production of the newspaper,” he added.