We are now fully in a digital world. Our world has shifted from physical products and services to digital products and services. Education has gone digital; science has gone digital, healthcare, entertainment, business and several aspects of our lives now have digital versions and representations.
From digital banking, digital insurance operations to digital tax collection and processing, the financial sector has gone fully digital. So is communication, of which news publishing is a key aspect.
The generation, production, distribution and consumption of news are now fully digital. Journalists now source news digitally, process it digitally, distribute digitally, while the public also consume news digitally. The revolution is already a success; and journalists and news publishers can not ignore the tide. We all flow with the tide.
Today, there is only a thin line between news producers and the public as possession of smartphones by virtually every adult empowers them to produce and distribute ‘news’ unfettered. That is why we have those christened content creators today. They did not exist yesterday, but they do not just exist today; they shape opinions and serve as influential advertising agents.
As relevant and laudable as digital news publishing is, it comes with its own benefits and challenges.
The Benefits Include:
Ease of news production and distribution. Technology has made it easier to produce and distribute news. The internet, powering e-libraries and search engines, has not just widened access to information needed for news production, it makes it easy for journalists to source information.
Gone are the days when journalists would visit physical libraries, search newspapers, magazines and books one-by-one for several hours before getting the specific information needed to background or fetch data, thoughts or quotations to enrich their stories. All those are available at the press of a button on the smartphone.
Promotion Of Entrepreneurship Among Journalists
Due to the ease of setting up a digital news outlet, more journalists are embracing entrepreneurship, becoming publishers, instead of remaining as reporters or editors.
The days of huge capital outlay for acquisition of printing or transmitting equipment, recruiting and maintaining huge number of personnel cutting across human resources, marketing, circulation, accounts, press etc, are gone. Individual journalists and groups are bypassing that hurdle by embracing digital publishing. They move from earning salaries as employees to becoming employers of labour, and managers of businesses.
This is being achieved with the use of a smartphone, a laptop and few personnel or partners (where available). Largely, this new era is producing publisher-reporters who are executing all aspects of news publishing business.
Plurality Of Perspectives And Opinions
This new era has promoted media plurality in that the gate-keeping work undertaken by editors of traditional media, has been weakened. The voices are now multiple, representing different shades of opinions and beliefs, as should be in a proper democracy.
Remember that gate-keeping by editors is sometimes coloured by many factors including political leanings, economic consideration, ethnic and ideological beliefs.
Digital news publishing has opened the gateway to diversity, which enriches freedom and democracy. However, digital news publishing faces intrinsic challenges, including the following:
Professionalism is endangered. In this era, cheap access to the internet and affordability of smartphones combine to make entry into news publishing so easy that it has become an all-comer affair.
If you are disappointed with the influenced gate-keeping by traditional media editors, you will possible quake about the free violation of journalism ethics by many digital news publishers. That is why the digital news publishing industry is plagued with credibility question.
A lot of Nigerians do not trust what they read online because of the poor credibility of the source. You cannot blame them because they have been ‘scammed’ many times.
From one-sided stories to totally fake stories, readers have been misled and served half-truths. This particular challenge threatens truthfulness, objectivity and fairness which are the foundations for news publishing.
As good as Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, quacks in news publishing are employing it to serve inaccurate stories, thereby eroding credibility. We are in the era of yellow journalism, click bait and headline tyranny.
Multiplication Without Corresponding Impact
Though there is a multiplication of voices, they are largely scratching the surface. Most platforms are operating like public information notice boards. No depth in content; no impactful stories – only the traditional media are still serving the investigative stories, exposing fraud, mismanagement, and calling those in leadership to order. Very few digital news outlets are serving editorials and cartoon – everyone is running to survive economically.
Regulation, Partnership And Collaboration
We have many self-regulation bodies, such as the South-West Guild of Online publishers (SWEGOP). More professionals should join the foray
No regulation. Unlike print that has Nigerian Press Council (NPC) and broadcast that is regulated by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the Nigerian Government is yet to set up a specific regulatory body for online news publishing.
No profession gains respect, and serves the society better without regulation. Lack of control in the digital news publishing industry is making the industry a hard terrain for professionals who desire to make the kind of impact that the society deserves.
Recommendations
Regulation (government and self-regulation). We have examples in SWEGOP and the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), among several others.
Partnership/Collaboration For Improved Economic And Human Resources Capacity
Harnessing the skills, experience and resources of each partner to achieve team’s goal. This will help us scale faster.
More professional journalists should join online news publishing companies to improve quality and professionalism. If we don’t do, others will do, and hire us.
•Being the text of a paper presented by Oladele, Publisher, Newspeakonline.com at the launch of Daily Open News at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan, on 13 November, 2025.
