The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, gave the keynote speech at the 10th Jackson Annual Lecture Series organised by the Department of Mass Communication of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN). The event focused on contemporary issues in the sector. JAMES OJO (400-level Mass Communication) reports.
The Princess Alexandra Auditorium (PAA) of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) was packed full for the 10th Jackson Annual Lecture Series organised by the Department of Mass Communication. The event with the theme: The media and ethical puzzles in political reporting in Nigeria, was held in honour of a doyen of Nigerian journalism, Thomas Horatio Jackson, after whom the department was named.
Jackson, who was Editor of Lagos Weekly Record, died in 1935.
The event brought journalists, media managers, teachers, scholars and students together to brainstorm contemporary issues on the field and also chart a way forward amidst challenges facing the first school of journalism in sub-Saharan Africa.
At the event was the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, who is an alumnus of the department. Speaking on the topic, New media: A threat or complement to traditional media?, Shehu noted that the new media posed great challenges to the traditional media.
He said: “As a practitioner in the media enterprise with decades of experience, I know first-hand that the evolution of any new media is a threat to existing one, which is why media professionals rarely enthusiastically welcome new entrants to the enterprise.”
According to him, the advancement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) brings about rising numbers of channels of mass communication, thereby putting power in the hands of consumers of media content. He said the contest for relevance and revenue among traditional media practitioners had never been fiercer than it is presently.
The president’s spokesman, however, pointed out that the competition posed by the new media should be an opportunity for the traditional media to re-strategise and focus on harness more opportunities, stressing that traditional and new media must work in complementary fashion.
He said: “These same channels which represent avenues for competition simultaneously represent unprecedented opportunity. The challenge is for traditional media players to welcome these new technologies and platforms, and deploy them with a spirit of experimentation and adventure.”
To achieve this, Shehu said traditional media must develop and adapt to digital applications and technologies, which would give its audiences and communities a voice in their news content.
In his address, the Head of Department of Mass Communication, Dr Luke Anorue, emphasised the significance of the event, describing it as the department’s “historic event”.
He said: “Ten is a significant number. It is often seen as a milestone, a symbol of completeness, a standard of measurement, the easiest to recite in multiples, and indeed an indication that a movement has come of age, and is serious. Today, we tell ourselves that we are serious and we have come of age.”
The HOD used the opportunity to discuss the challenges facing the department, pointing out that the department had been facing dearth of cameras, microphones, audio and video consoles to use in radio and television studios. He added that the department needed a standby generator and a bus to mobilise staff during excursions.
He said: “What we have as advertising, photojournalism and public relations laboratories are shadows of good 21st century gadgets. We need a constantly upgraded library, especially an e-library that gives global access not only to books, but also to current journals for our undergraduate and postgraduate students. We need a modern and befitting building for the oldest department of journalism and mass communication in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
A highpoint of the event was presentation of awards of excellence to Mallam Shehu and the first professor of mass communication produced by the department, Prof Nnayelugo Okoro.
The post ‘Ways to benefit from new media’ appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.