A columnist is a writer engaged by the media firm to offer his opinion in the newspaper. The fellow may be a staff or an outsider. He does research and writes factual news stories based on his own personal views on events. There may equally be syndicated columnists whose opinion columns may appear in many different newspapers with different names.
Findings by our consultancy firm reveal that in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, columnists were engaged not basically to increase the copy sales of newspapers but to set agenda for the government of the day through influencing the salience of topics in the public glare. Furthermore, media in those days significantly influenced policy makers when government officials and politicians take amount of media attention given to an issue as indirect expression of public interest in the issue. Media firms capitalized on the goodwill of the writers to curry favour.
We once had powerful columnists in this country; their opinions on topical issues shaped the society to a reasonable extent. Some of them had political leanings but they were objective to a very reasonable extent in their write ups. Those that readily come to mind are Uncle Sam Amuka-Pemu (Sad Sam), Late Chief Olabisi Onabanjo (Ayekooto), Chief L. K. Jakande, Late Chief Bola Ige, Stanley Macebuh, Femi Osofisan, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Edwin Medanagu, Godwin Sogolo, Ebenezer Babatope, Sully Abu, Eddie Iroh, Onwuechekwa Jamie, Olatunji Dare among others.
Most of the columns appeared on weekends. Apart from their opinions shaping the environment, the media firms gained immensely because the copy sales of the concerned media firms surged higher. Students of higher institutions saved money from their stipends to buy copies of these newspapers.
Critical examination of these present days columnists lead to their categorization into two viz: the pro governments columns are hyperbolical and anti governments columns are sensational forgetting that all sides of the facts need to be considered in their write-ups. It can even be concluded that some of them are being used for selfish reasons by some unscrupulous politicians.
However, trend has changed for worse, these days. There are many writers on both weekdays and weekends but their impacts are not being felt on the copy sales. Equally, goodwill implications are rarely felt. Editors have lost count of different opinions that appear on the pages of their newspapers on a daily basis. I once challenged an Editor on this and could not recollect all the columnists in his newspaper. Some of them have caused litigation problems for medium being written for.
Checks by our consultancy outfit in the print media market indicate that virtually none of those columns are giving an edge to the newspapers sales.
In Nigeria and as at today, all newspapers sell almost the same number of copies on a daily basis except if there is a breaking news. However, exception to this is the Nigerian Tribune newspaper that sells more copies on Thursdays; the reason being the pool section, which other newspapers had since stopped. Guardian newspaper makes difference on Tuesdays and Thursdays due to vacancy adverts and property sections respectively, although, with fewer pagination (48 pages) unlike what the editions used to be in those days; minimum of 96 copies.
There are serious business implications in this matter. Media houses thrive on readership especially when the contents are fuelled by objectivity and credibility. Without it, public trust and confidence could be easily eroded and once that is gone, media houses lose their readership and audience. Without the readership and the audience, then, it is the requiem for such media houses and influx of advert revenue would be adversely affected. This will eventually lead into perennial financial crisis that will debar the company from meeting its obligations.
Same articles/columns appear in more than one newspaper. In fact, some are writing on the same subject matter in a different way over a period of time. It must be admitted that it takes a lot of discipline and commitment to maintain a column but anything worth doing must be done well.
Apart from the fact that these columns are not affecting copy sales positively, the same can be said about the effect on the online readers. This is due to the columnists approaches. For example, most of the columnists will just copy their write-ups and paste them on their various social media platforms, even, before the newspapers get to the newsstands. The best would have been to share the link and the reader will need to visit the mediums website before reading the article. By so doing this, the medium will be able to rake in a substantial number of hits or visits that may enable it secure online adverts.
Excuse of not sharing the link but the wordings does not hold water and it amounts to selfishness. It is not an exaggeration that some of these columnists are patronized based on their articles/writings. Some are even commissioned to write opinion articles. Some columnists are using their platforms to market themselves thereby smiling to the Banks.
I doubt if some of the media Managers have guidelines for the columnists who have turned themselves into political analysts. They can as well analyse the troubles being passed through in the print media industry. I was in a gathering recently, when an MD/E-i-C of a national newspaper celebrated how one of his columnists lambasted the Presidency. He said that, the days write-up hit more than the previous one and wished the next one to be harder.
If the consciousness of profit making is in the minds of the media managers, they will run the enterprise expectedly. MDs need to infuse the spirit of a company with a desire for economic performance not minding the inhibited stress. More important than to interpret what the business is doing is to identify what the business would be doing but so far does not.
Publishers of The Sun and New Telegraph newspapers did not wait for the statutory period of seven years being gestation period before started asking for returns on his investments. The self acclaimed corporate surgeon wanted to toe the same line before the National Mirror newspapers disappeared from the newsstands.
There needs to be a code of conduct besides the fact that there must be something of value in form of goodwill or increase in copy sales. If this trend is not addressed appropriately, the pyramid in an organization may be narrowed abruptly. Any basic charge proposed to overcome the vulnerability seems to the people in an industry so unlikely to be impossible.
Finally, a breakthrough from this noticed menace requires great effort. It requires the engagement of first-class columnists. There should be rules and guidelines on the publication of columns. If need be, praise singing of individuals should be avoided except in a very rare situation. Means of measuring relevance of each column in terms of copy sales or goodwill should be established. Whenever a restrict or vulnerability of this kind can be changed, the economic results are likely to be substantial and such a restraint will represent a major opportunity.
Abiola Ayankunbi
MD/CEO at AbimgMO3 Marketing Management Consultancy.
08023051315
abiolaayankunbi@yahoo.com
