ICIR holds media sustainability conference to commemorate 10th Anniversary

The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) will hold a Media Sustainability Conference on Wednesday, June 22, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, as part of events to commemorate its 10th anniversary.

The conference brings together leading media proprietors, veteran journalists and other dignitaries to brainstorm on revenue challenges in the industry and proffer sustainable ways to guarantee financial viability for journalism practice.

Shrinking revenues, occasioned by the erosion of advertising income as a result of the rise of technology platforms such as Facebook, Google, Twitter and several others, leave the media business in a fragile condition, The ICIR said in a statement signed by its Managing Editor, Ajibola Amzat.

The ICIR noted that in the last two years, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic had worsened the misfortunes of the global media enterprise in ways never imagined.

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 African countries, is still struggling to stay afloat, The ICIR observed.

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“The time is now to have a conversation on the future of the media in Africa, particularly its viability and profitability.

“Many news organisations 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,” the statement quotes The ICIR’s Executive Director and Founder, Dayo Ayetan, as saying.

Ayetan stressed that industry leaders must find profitable ways to run media businesses.

Tshepo Mahloele, Chairperson of Arena Holdings, one of Africa’s largest newspaper publishers, will deliver the keynote address on “Sustainability Imperatives for African Media.”

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

Chairman, Thisday Newspapers and Proprietor of Arise TV, Chief Nduka Obaigbena; Chief Executive Officer, Hot Fm, Ms Chris Anyanwu; Chief Executive Officer, Daily Trust Newspapers, Mallam Kabir Yusuf; Chief Executive Officer, RadioNow, Kadaria Ahmed and Professor Abigail Ogwezzy–Ndisika of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) will hold a panel discussion after Mahloele’s address.

The Managing Director of Guardian Newspaper Limited, Martins Oloja, will moderate the conversation while Eugenia Abu, a respected TV personality, will 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.