Technology disruptions, reduced donor funding threaten Nigerian media’s sustainability

The Nigerian news industry continues to transform and innovate, but economic pressures, including cuts to US budgets for media support, cast a shadow over its future, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The Digital News Report, published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, said rising operational costs, declining advertising revenues, reduced donor funding, and fluctuating exchange rates remained a serious threat to media sustainability in Nigeria.

Despite the challenges, however, trust in the media is high in Nigeria (68 per cent) and is the highest in the world, the report noted, followed by Finland (67 per cent).

The report acknowledged that digital media platforms are growing in the country but they generate lower advertising revenues compared to legacy platforms such as TV and print, and less than their Western counterparts.

“Nigerian news media rely heavily on advertising for online monetisation, but changes to Google’s search algorithms and a consequent decline in revenue have further strained their financial stability.”

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s Digital News Report is based on an online survey of almost 100,000 people in 48 markets, including Nigeria.

The report said a sharp decline in donor funding has affected Nigerian media outlets that depend on these grants to sustain their operations. “This has resulted in fewer investigative reports and a reduced capacity to pursue in-depth reporting.”

Irrespective of the challenges, the Nigerian media market continues to grow with total revenues expected to reach $540.50 million by 2029, with around half coming from digital, the report said. “This has encouraged a range of digital start-ups as well as new investments by established media. The South African Times has entered the market facilitated by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and digital-born Urban Express News launched a print edition in Lagos and Abuja to cater for readers preferring traditional formats.”

AI-Adoption

The adoption of Artificial Intelligence is gaining traction in Nigerian newsrooms, with AI tools being used for tasks such as copy-editing, content illustration, content strategy, and ad targeting, the report said, adding that media organisations are also using AI-driven solutions to combat misinformation.

The report acknowledged the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) recently launched Dubawa.ai, an AI-powered fact-checking chatbot to verify information and counter false narratives; and Dataphyte’s Nubia, a tool that enables newsrooms to analyse complex datasets and produce data-driven stories efficiently.

Traditional media losing reach

Traditional news media in Nigeria increasingly risks being eclipsed by online personalities and social media networking sites, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said.

The trend is particularly acute among young and middle aged Nigerians. At least 94 per cent of a sampled group of Nigerians rely on any online medium as their main source of news, the report found.

Some 79 per cent rely on social media as their primary source of news, the report said, adding that 65 per cent of respondents source news on TV while only 34 per cent of the sampled audience rely on print media for news.

“These traditional sources, however, are losing reach as digital and social media play a bigger role, with influencers and citizen journalists frequently breaking stories ahead of mainstream media,” the report said.

Peddlers of fake news

Despite their popularity, online influencers and personalities are seen as the biggest sources of false or misleading information worldwide, along with politicians, the report found.

About 58 per cent of Nigerians and 59 per cent of Kenyans said they remained concerned about influencers ability to tell what is true from what is false when it comes to news online. In the US, politicians are considered the biggest sources of false or misleading information.

Meanwhile, Meta’s plan to discontinue its fact-checking programme in the United States was said to have raised alarm bells for the Nigerian Fact-Checking Alliance (NFA), whose members are heavily reliant on the funding. “Though there is no timetable for the ending of the programme outside the US, there are fears that this could lead to widespread job losses and the unchecked spread of false narratives,” the Reuters Institute for Journalism said.

The report acknowledged the resilience of Nigerian journalists amidst rising threats. Press freedom in Nigeria remains under serious threat, with an alarming increase in attacks on journalists.

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During the 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recorded 56 cases of journalists being assaulted or detained by security agencies. The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) have since raised the alarm, calling for urgent international intervention to safeguard press freedom and protect journalists from threats.

The research concluded that Nigerians’ trust in the news has increased significantly since 2021, alongside some recent improvements in the press freedom index scores from RSF.

“68 per cent of Nigerian audiences remain highly interested in news and despite – or perhaps because of – the challenges posed by misinformation and press freedom.”