In the past two years, Nigerian media houses -both electronic and print- have been shedding their staff like their counterparts over the world. While some have claimed that the mass sack was due to the affected workers’ blunted capabilities, others have admitted that the decision was borne out of economic realities. True, since 2015 Nigeria’s economy has been on a steep decline and we have recently been in a recession. Between 2016 and 2017 alone, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, seven million Nigerians lost their jobs. The figure could be higher, given how data-illiterate our society can be.

The multiplier effect of such an insalubrious development is the decrease in disposable income available to people to spend on “luxurious” items such as newspapers. For the Nigerian news industry, the bad news is not just the state of the nation’s economy. There is also the added factor of the new media, and the radical ways it has shifted the paradigms of news as a commodity. The traditional role of the media as a gatekeeper has changed forever. The gate has been pulled down and whatever is left of it is operated out of people’s smartphones.

Thanks to the ubiquity of modern communication technology, there is virtually nothing established journalists do that anyone else -armed with as little as a mobile phone- cannot achieve, and with more mischief too. In the era of mindless “liking” and “sharing,” instantaneous messaging, electronic updates and notifications, viral news infections, trolls, trending news, fake news, the role of traditional media houses – already long threatened by citizen journalists- is being usurped. There was a time media houses shaped the social agenda through their reporting and analyses but these days that patrimonial authority has been eroded, sometimes leaving media houses in a reactionary role.

People can report news, fact check, and even indict themselves through the social media. Leaders and politicians have moved to social media, and they are disgorging their unfiltered thoughts. Once upon a time, you pursued people in high places to know their opinion on any public issue. These days we simply go to their twitter pages. There are dozens of blogs in Nigeria that report anything from news to gossip, and they have dedicated followers to keep the pages active. In such a frenzied world of news overload, and information extravaganza, who still needs journalists?

Content provision is not the only means by which the people are actively competing with journalists. The battle for revenue – unarguably the lifeblood of any enterprise including news- is another area journalists are actively losing ground to modern technology.  Everywhere in the world where there is the internet, the print copies of newspapers and magazines – a lifelong source of revenue for media houses- is shrinking. Adverts revenue are falling as companies are beginning to look elsewhere for the audience. In Nigeria, even the Free Readers’ Association at vendors’ stands is thinning out.

The world is changing, and in a wicked karma-ic twist, it is taking journalists -who have long been the apostles of change in the world- along with it. Previously formidable media companies like the New York Times have admitted that they are sustained by reader subscription. Their print advertising revenue has fallen, and digital advertising revenue is much too contended by other available media forms to make up for the shortfall. The bulk of global digital revenue is flowing into the pockets of global giants like Google and Facebook. In 2017 alone, Google made 33 percent of the $223.7 billion in global digital ad revenue. Facebook followed with 16 percent, and Alibaba, eight percent.

With its peculiar situation, there are not many options for Nigerian media. Print circulation is falling, and most media houses are in denial about their infinitesimal circulation figures. Unfortunately, the idea of asking people to pay for news content is still far ahead of its time in Nigeria. PUNCH tried that about ten years ago, but they eventually gave up when readers moved on to other websites to consume free content. I am not sure any other Nigerian newspaper will take the risk of asking readers to pay to consume contents anymore.

Despite the gloom, the cheering news is that journalism cannot be obsolete. Journalists are an institution, and they can execute the added responsibility of keeping on the ethical control buttons even as charlatans and pseuds dabble into the industry. They also have a front seat in starting national conversations, deepening them, and dispensing them as needed. It is ironical: the very phenomenon that threatens the brick and mortar model of news reporting and organization is also the reason they will continue to exist.

While we can agree that no matter what, journalism will always be needed, it is also imperative that it pays for itself in spite of Nigeria’s strangulating realities. As the world changes, news media too must innovate so they can thrive. First on the list for Nigerian media houses is a continuous improvement of their website. They need more interactive websites that do not merely feel like a little improvement over the newspaper itself, or like a simple signboard where they hang the e-versions of their print copies. They need ones with improved and animated graphics, hyperlinks, provocative caricaturing, and audio-visual materials that drive the interest of the reader.

Second is news marketing, and here, media houses need to meet readers where they currently shop for news. Rather than wait for readers to come to your website, why not push your website to them? What if, every morning, Nigerians get an email, SMS, and WhatsApp notification that introduces them to what the newspaper has to offer for the day and also includes the links to the sites? What if they ask people to subscribe to their newsletter so they can receive articles from their favorite columnists every day?

The third is the content. More than ever, Nigeria needs a media that is driven by a social justice agenda and not just act as an apologia for cynical politicians. Beyond the core roles of journalism to edit, analyze, check, filter, and respond to ongoing social issues is the moral task of remaining on the side of the people. We live in times when our democracy and the people who constitute it are being threatened by contravening forces. That makes the role of journalists crucial, one that can never be outmoded.

Adelakun is a columnist with PUNCH. She wrote this piece to commemorate  Daily Trust at 20