Obaigbena Advocates Law to Protect Intellectual Property in Nigerian Media and Creative Industries

•Insists Google, Facebook, Instagram, others must pay for usage of journalists’ contents

•Says good journalism will not change in Nigeria 

• Amuka, others hail Jakande’s contribution to journalism, governance

Wale Igbintade and Segun James

The Chairman of the THISDAY/Arise Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, yesterday, called for the enactment of laws that would ensure that Google, Facebook and other social media platforms pay for intellectual property and news items produce by the Nigerian media and creative industries.

Obaigbena stated this while delivering a keynote address at the Lateef Jakande 2nd Annual Memorial Lecture with the theme: “Rapidly Changing Media Landscape: Media Survival Strategies,” organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), in Lagos.

According to the media mogul, the law must ensure that Nigerian journalists get paid for their intellectual property that are being shared on various social media platforms.

He urged the NGE to liaise with the government, and the lawmakers in order to make it a reality.

He said, “If we get payments for the job we do every day as journalists, we will be in a far better place. That is the first survival instinct that we must do, either as a group, led by the Nigerian Guild of Editors, where I happened to be secretary in1988, and working with the government to ensure that our intellectual property that is shared everyday on social media is paid for.

“First, we need to have the laws changed, where intellectual property is recognised as an asset. That recognises the work of your brain as an asset class. That asset class has to be bankable, and you can create value with it.

“I challenge the minister of information to ensure we pass a law that those who use our work online, call them Google, call them Facebook, call them Instagram or any other name must pay for it.

“The next step is to be prepared for artificial intelligence (AI) by promoting good education and good governance.”

According to Obaigbena, the newspaper is just a means of distribution of news just like phones and computers. He said although the means of distribution of news was changing from newspaper to computer and phones, good journalism would not change.

He said journalism in Nigeria is presently 165 years old, starting with Iwe Irohin, which was established in 1859, adding that in that 165 years a lot has changed in the Nigerian media industry.

Obaigbena added: “Journalism in Nigeria started 165 years ago today. Iwe Irohin started in 1859. In those 165 years, a lot has changed. Today, we are all seated here. What is the average age of the editors who are here? Most of us here are over 40.

“Where are the young people who are 30, 40, 50 per cent of the population who are reading, who are engaging, who are on social media? Why are they not among you? How old was Uncle Sam when he was in Daily Times? How old was Peter Enahoro? How old was Ike Nwachukwu? They were all young people in their 20s and 30s.

“And today, we say we are in survival mode. That survivor must come from the audience. And your audience in Nigeria are young people. Are you engaged with them? Are you working with them? Are they part of your news today? We are in a new world.”

Speaking further, he pointed out that the United States of America has an election in about 100 days. “Donald Trump was engaging the crypto community few days ago and he told them that he’s going to keep part of United States reserves in crypto. Then you have a woman (Kamala Harris) who may also make history.

“So, that is the world that we are going into, led by one of those two people. How prepared are we if crypto is a new currency? For instance, how will we engage? How will our media present our country? The world is being driven by technology and technology is shaping the media.

“I heard the lamentation of Uncle Sam Amuka that he could not buy his paper again in Ife, Osun State. Yes, but the content he could not buy in hard copy, was already in Ife the night before. People had consumed it.

“People had read it. So, that information is still there. We are only a means of distribution of that information. As journalists, we write stories and engage with audiences. The newspaper is just a form of distribution of that news.

“Your phone is for distribution. Your computer is for distribution. So, let us not confuse the idea and the means of distribution. That means of distribution is changing, but good journalism will not change. However, what is good journalism?”

According to Obaigbena, “Old-fashioned truth, getting your facts right, telling the story as it is, engaging with your audiences and building a future,” are all good journalism.

He noted however that, it does not mean that journalism was under crisis.

“We have what they call AI. So, the world we are going to, we are confronted and challenged by AI. What is AI? AI is a confluence of software, hardware and proper algorithms which have an impact across the board.

“But more importantly, in the media, they can take your face; they can take your voice and they can take your identity, and create anything.

“So the threat we face is in AI, but AI is a machine. We have to train AI; we have to treat AI and we have to challenge AI, then AI will respond.

“Are we ready for a world that is being changed by AI, where young people of seven and eight years old take the computer, take their phones and can do a lot with it.

“Therefore, my friends and colleagues, that is where we face challenges, but we can also use it for good. We can use it for medicine; we can use it to cure diseases; we can use it to do many other things.

“So how do we confront the advantages of AI? And use it to promote good journalism? How do we challenge AI, build our brands, build our journalism and ensure that we make our society a better place? “We are in a country where the young are much more than the old. We need to get them employed and we need to banish poverty.”

Going down memory line, he said: “I joined the NUJ on November 11, 1977, at that time we were still doing the letterpress printing. We were printing pictures in studies, but things started changing.

“We started with THISWEEK magazine and we had that battle with Dele Giwa, Ray Epku, Dan Agbese at NewsWatch. But sooner than later, it was clear to us after Times Magazine named the computer, the Man of the Year, that the news circle will change, and we changed with it, and went to THISDAY.

“But it is also clear to us at THISDAY that the news circle is not a digital circle, and we went to create Arise Television.

“Now it’s clear to us that Artificial Intelligence, and the mobile phones will change it all. So watch out for what we will do next.”

Also speaking, Chairman and Publisher of Vanguard Media Limited, Mr. Sam Amuka-Pemu lamented that print journalism was becoming old-fashioned, noting that disruptive technologies have modified their approach to news necessary.

Amuka said: “Producing a newspaper is a Tug of War. Most people don’t buy newspapers on the streets anymore because by the time the newspaper hits the street, it is already online.

“There’s one single reason why you don’t find newspapers on the streets. It is because there are no vendors like there used to be.”

Earlier in his welcome address, the President, NGE, Mr. Eze Anaba said: “At the inaugural lecture last year, we heard from his colleagues, associates, and students who stated how great he was. We were told how he worked assiduously to create a platform I and others strut to create.

“The current Exco of the Guild thinks it’s important to institutionalise a culture of appreciation, which at the same time gives us the institutional memory to know how we got to where we are and how to build on the legacy and accomplishments of the past.

“The man in whose memory this lecture was instituted lived a principled and professionally impactful life. At large, he devoted his entire professional and political career to advancing the values of liberty and social justice.

“He also exemplified the values of honesty, integrity, courage and fairness. He told the stories of the fathers and held the powerful to account.

“He demonstrated commitment to our journalistic freedom and long-term survival. When he and his colleagues founded the Guild in 1961, the purpose was to address the issue and to preserve the media data.

“He and his colleagues lit the torch for us to chart a way forward in addressing our issues today. This quest has led to a determined effort by many to search for contemporary and effective solutions. Besides, the circumstances in which we report, produce, distribute and obtain the news have changed so dramatically. The cost of production has hit the roof. Sales have fallen heavily because of a depressed economy.”

He stressed the need for media managers to think of innovative and sustainable solutions.

In his remarks, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, said: “We are talking about social media and AI. My own answer to all of this is that, it’s very simple. The media have one big asset – people trust them. They have found them as a very good source of credible information.

“So, I would want to advise that we still go to all of that. All the values that people have seen in us, that have made them to stay with us since 165 years ago.

“AI should not be a problem at all. It should be something that brings some ideas. All you should be thinking about is how to use AI to further all of the good things that we think about every day.”

Dignitaries at the event included Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Malagi, represented by Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria, Mr. Muhammed Ali; immediate past Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; and  former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ike Nwachukwu.

Others were Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of Punch newspapers, Adeyeye Joseph; Managing Director, New Telegraph Newspaper, Mr. Ayo Aminu, wife of former Lagos State governor, Alhaja Sikirat Jakande; President of Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, Maureen Chigbo; Senior Special Assistant (media) to President Bola Tinubu, Tunde Rahman; Director at International Press Centre, Lanre Arogundade; Executive Director of the Centre for Free Speech organisation, Richard Akinola, among several others.