GOCOP, Zenith Bank legal adviser pay tribute to Sundiata Post CEO's father, High Chief Amuchie - ITREALMS

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The Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) and Mr. Mike Osilama, Legal Adviser, Zenith Bank Plc, have paid tribute to High Chief Emmanuel Ikonne Amuchie, the late father of Dr Max Amuchie, Chief Executive Officer of Sundiata Post Media Ltd and North Central Zonal Co-ordinator of GOCOP.

GOCOP, the umbrella body of professional journalists in Nigeria who are online publishers, said it was saddened to hear about the death of High Chief Amuchie.

16 Nigerian publications to benefit from Google's emergency fund - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:
The Google News Initiative Journalism Emergency Relief Fund (JERF) has named some 16 Nigerian publications as beneficiaries of the fund in the latest round, reports ITREALMS.

Launched in April, the JERF serves to help local publishers facing financial hardship as a result of the economic and advertising downturn.

“JERF has provided $39.5m in funding to publishers in 115 countries in the past few months,” says Ludovic Blecher, Head of Google News Initiative Innovation.

“The money is being applied in diverse and creative ways from ensuring basic reporting needs, giving emergency stipends to allow reporters to cover the crisis, to driving audience engagement and generating subscriptions.

Additionally, a significant number also said they are prioritising a need for cultural change, including a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion as well as organisational and business management changes.”

Within the first two weeks of launch, JERF had received applications from 12,000 publishers across the globe, with newsroom sizes ranging from an average of 20 in Asia Pacific to eight in North America.

“The massive response gave us the opportunity to understand what ‘local’ means in different parts of the globe and how dynamics ranging from newsroom size to ownership structure can differ depending on the region and the kinds of communities served,” Blecher says.

According to an optional reader revenue survey GNI conducted: “Advertising continues to be the sole source of revenue for most recipients with 50% claiming to be totally advertising dependent.

“The survey also showed that less than 30% operate some form of a paywall while less than 18% rely on community contributions or memberships to support their journalism.

“However, the situation is changing with 60% of the recipients planning to diversify their revenue streams through developing subscription, membership or contribution models.”

Blecher added: “The pandemic has affected everyone and local news organisations have been at the forefront in helping their communities navigate COVID.

“At the Google News Initiative, we are trying to play our part with this funding and other initiatives as we all work towards the common goal of a sustainable, innovative and diverse news ecosystem globally.”

Beneficiaries of the Fund in Nigeria are Aledeh.com, City Mirror News, Daily Nigerian, News Wire NGR, Lagos Post Media, Newsfeed Nigeria, Premium Times and Sundiata Post.

Others are Sunrise Newspaper, Tell Magazine, The Daily Times, The Daily Report, The Eagle Online, The Median, TNG and The Punch (including Saturday Punch, Sunday Punch and Punch Online).

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Adesina urges online publishers on credibility, as Haruna stresses importance

ITRealms:

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, has urged Nigerian online publishers to guarantee the credibility of their publications so as to bolster the future of online media, reports ITRealms.

Speaking as a guest at the official unveiling of an online newspaper, Sundiata Post in Abuja Tuesday, Mr. Adesina noted that the call is to assure the sector is not awash by unenthusiastic publishers.

“There is this saying that bad coins tend to drag good coins out of circulation. So, if we leave online publishing for the bad ones, the good ones cannot make a difference,” he said, stressing that the good, the bad and the ugly among online publishers do exist, but is need to have more of the good ones, because it would be for the betterment of the country.

In his keynote address, the former Chief Press Secretary to General Abdullsalami Abubakar, Mallam Mohammed Haruna, while dwelling on “Has Online Journalism Come of Age?” noted that the invention of the Internet had transformed journalism into a truly all-comers’ trade.

Haruna said the question has become imperative due to the assumed conflict between online media’s speed and old media’s core value of accuracy.

“This assumption is largely false. Depending on how much in a rush one is, there has always been conflict between accuracy and speed since the emergence of mass media in the 19th century. The difference is that the new media, in its rush to be in real time in the news, seems more wired to sacrifice accuracy on the altar of speed than the old media,” he said.

The implication, Mallam Haruna pointed out is that online journalism tends to be less reliable than the offline journalism and on this ground, it could be argued that online journalism is less mature than the mainstream journalism.

Chairman of the occasion and the Director-General, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Emeka Mba, defined online journalism as a media for the coming generation.

Represented by the Director, Public Affairs at NBC, Mr. Awwalu Salihu, the DG equally urged online publishers to focus carving integrity for themselves alongside accuracy and professionalism in order to have the buy-in of the society and its needs.

In his remarks, the Publisher, Sundiata Post Online Newspaper, Mr. Max Amuche, said that credibility and professionalism would continue to be the catchphrase of Sundiata.

As said by him, the publishers under the aegis of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) came together to make certain that the activity of the media is self-regulated.

Also speaking, the National Vice Chairman of GOCOP, Musikilu Mojeed, said proprietors of online media in the country are accomplished professionals, some of who rose from mere reporter to topmost management positions in some of Nigeria’s leading dailies.

GOCOP, Mr. Mojeed said, has been busy in the past months training its members on ethics and the latest trend in the media industry.

He disclosed plans by GOCOP to soon name charlatans who pass off as online newspaper publishers.

Mojeed emphasised that the GOCOP is partnering relevant Nigerian authorities to descend heavily on thieves who plagiarise the work of its members, even as he reiterated the determination of the organization to sanitise the online media industry.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) in Abuja


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