Journalists Urged To Embrace Digital Media

A professor at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Mukhtar Alkasim, has urged journalists to embrace emerging technologies, strengthen professional unity and intensify advocacy for improved welfare if the profession is to remain relevant in Nigeria’s changing media environment.

Prof. Alkasim made the call while presenting a paper at a one-day stakeholders’ engagement organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Katsina State Council.

The engagement, with the theme, “Journalism, Democracy and Institutional Renewal: Charting a New Course for the Katsina NUJ,” brought together journalists, media stakeholders and other professionals to discuss the future of journalism and the union in the state.

The university said journalists must fight collectively for better welfare, including improved salaries, health insurance and other social protections, arguing that poor welfare had continued to expose media practitioners to unnecessary pressures.

He noted that journalists play a critical role in democracy by informing citizens about government policies and activities, but regretted that political office holders often fail to accord the profession the recognition and respect it deserves.

According to him, journalists should not only complain about their welfare but must organise themselves and engage relevant authorities through sustained advocacy.

Alkasim cited the struggle by university lecturers for improved welfare as an example of how collective action could produce positive results.

He said the improvement in the salaries of university professors was achieved after years of agitation and industrial action, stressing that journalists could equally secure better working conditions through unity and determination.

The don also challenged journalists to embrace social media, artificial intelligence and other digital technologies, warning that failure to adapt was allowing bloggers, influencers and citizen journalists to gain greater influence in the information space.

He said the emergence of social media had fundamentally changed journalism, adding that practitioners must acquire new skills to remain competitive.

According to him, journalists should be able to use smartphones, digital applications, artificial intelligence and other content-creation tools to improve the quality and speed of their work.

He criticised the initial resistance by some conventional journalists towards social media practitioners, noting that governments and institutions now recognise and engage digital content creators.

Rather than seeing new media practitioners as competitors, he urged conventional journalists to work with them, regulate their activities where necessary, and provide training and mentorship.

“We are not fighting, we are together,” he said, stressing that the earlier journalists organised and integrated emerging practitioners into the professional system, the better for the industry.