By Murtala Mohamed Kamara
𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲; 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚 𝐋𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐁𝐂 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭, 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚.
𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬. 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞.
𝐖𝐄𝐁𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐄
Websites are very important, you cannot publish a newspaper in this digital era without having a website. If you want to attract more readers, this is the way to go. Websites allow you to publish texts, images, videos and audio. It also allows you to report the news in real-time and get instant feedback from your readers. Some publishers are of the notion that newspapers are not in the business of publishing videos or audios or creating video contents. Well, this was the case a decade ago, but it has changed. It is one thing to have a website and another to have great content that will keep readers coming back to your website. Newspapers should consider creating good content because content is the key.
𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊
This social media platform has 2.94 billion monthly active users and 1.96 billion users that are visiting the site daily. Who would want to miss out on this number of people? If you want to stay in business in this digital era, you must find a way to take your content to your readers and one platform that you can use to do that is Facebook.
Newspapers should create business pages on Facebook if they don’t have one. They should also look beyond publishing their daily edition front pages. Newspapers can train their reporters on multimedia coverage. If news breaks and they are at the scene, they can go live on Facebook. They can also think of creating content for Facebook around key topics. Newspapers can have a daily, or weekly discussion or bring in independent panellists to review or discuss their stories. When news breaks, you don’t have to wait to print it out. Facebook could be a starting point for developing stories.
𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐁𝐄
This is the opportunity the new media has created. Newspapers can now create content and distribute it to multiple channels. Newspapers need to have their own YouTube channels. Nowadays people want to read but also see videos of happenings. Many people, including reporters, now have smartphones. There are many tools that they can use to edit their videos and publish them on YouTube channels. Reporters can also cover a news report and create different contents.for different platforms. They can also include WhatsApp verified videos in their reports and credit the source.
𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑
You can tweet live events whether it’s a press conference, a riot or an award ceremony, it brings more followers to you. You can also live-tweet important quotes during the coverage of an event. Learn to use the #hashtag. This is the power of Twitter. Twitter has also recently launched Twitter space, which now allows for having a live conversation. You can schedule one. You can be having a weekly interview with a big personality, whether a Government official, a sports icon or a humanitarian. You can create a flyer with a picture of the guest for the week and publish it in print. It gives your fans information about the topic and the guest.
𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌
News media are hopping on this platform. It is very popular, especially among young people. Almost 60% of all online adults aged 18 to 29 years old use Instagram. It has over 700 million monthly users and three times more engagement than Facebook. I call it the ‘addictive’ site. For most young people, this is where they get information on protests, police actions, etc. For those that love to publish newspaper front pages, well, this is the most appropriate place to do it. You can publish newspaper front pages, news in slideshow format, a nice quote in a flyer format, short video, etc.
About the Author:
Murtala Mohamed Kamara is a multimedia journalist, founder of Salone Jamboree newspaper and Managing Director of Jamboree Consult, an information technology, digital and advertising consultancy. Jamboree Consult provides website design services, Social Media Marketing, online reputation management, Mobile App development, Drone camera rental, video production, advertising etc.
