Chris Kehinde Nwandu, Publisher CKN News and President, Guild of
Professional Bloggers of Nigeria recently paid a courtesy visit to The Sun
Publishing Limited Corporate Headquarters, Kirikiri, Apapa, Lagos.
Nwandu, in this interview, sheds
light on the new trend in cyber publishing and online information
dissemination, the prospects and problems, as well as the forthcoming lecture
organized by his online platform to professionalise the trade in Nigeria
through the guild he heads. Excerpts:
What
is CKN up to lately?
As
the President, Guild of Professional Bloggers, we are organizing a lecture that
aims to bring some life into the art of blogging and online publication. My
outfit, CKN, decided to organize this lecture to educate people in this field.
We want to look at the challenges we face so far. We want to look at the good,
the bad and ugly sides of online publication, as well as how far we have fared.
That is why we have come up with the first CKN Annual Lecture and the theme is
“The Role of Social Media in the Socio-economic and Political Development of
Nigeria.”
The
event is going to take place on Tuesday the 13th of June, 2017 at Renaissance
Hotel, GRA, Ikeja. The guest speaker is the Minister of Transport, Honourable
Chibuike Amaechi. We chose him, because he has been the most bashed personality
in social media on all platforms. We want to bring him in to tell us his
experience. Let him analyze social media from his own perspective. The chairman
of the occasion is going to be the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu.
The chief host is going to be the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode. Our
special guest of honour is the Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, Dr.
Boboye Oyeyemi.
Since
the lecture has to do with technology, the executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian
Communication Commission, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, is going to give the
keynote address. We want to use that opportunity to look at ourselves and find
out how far we have gone, what we are doing right, what we are not doing right and
how to improve, so that we will continue to remain relevant in the scheme of
things.
What
are the objectives of the Guild of Professional Bloggers?
The
first objective is to bring some level of professionalism in the art of
blogging in Nigeria. It is our aim to let Nigerians know that bloggers are not
riff raffs, drop outs, trouble makers or blackmailers. There are many bloggers
making legitimate money out of blogging.
The
second one is to act as an avenue for bloggers to interact on issues of
national importance and issues that concern them too. Another objective is to
look at areas of cooperation and collaboration between bloggers in the areas of
content and information management.
The
guild also seeks to establish some codes of conduct ethically for practitioners
of industry so that we can distinguish ourselves from those who are just on the
cyber space and those who are doing their jobs well and professionally.
We
also set up the guild so that we can train and re-train ourselves with modern
day technological know-how on the art of professional blogging, news
dissemination and online publication.
So
how do you intend to do all these given the free access many people have when
it comes to blogging and how do you plan to get a reasonable amount of bloggers
into the guild?
Already,
we have a reasonable amount of bloggers registered with us, but we are looking
at how we can continue to spread our tentacles. By the time those who are
sceptical about joining us see the calibre of people within the association and
what we have been able to achieve, they will definitely know that this is where
to belong.
Also,
it is easy for organisations to relate with people who have come together as
one and see themselves as professionals, rather than just dealing with individuals.
Also, no one knows it all. When you belong to a group, you will interact with
others, look at your strengths, know your weaknesses, try to balance both and
learn from other people who are doing the same as you.
This
body will also give bloggers credibility. By the ethics establishing the
association, there are certain things you are not supposed to do. Once people
see that there’s credulity in our association, there’s a tendency that they
will come and join us. We know it is a very difficult task, but they are
surmountable. We want to put face to blogging in Nigeria. It’s an avenue to
make money, learn from others and reach out to the world with information and
people will take you seriously.
What
are some of the challenges you face running CKN News as well as the
association?
As
an online publisher, network communication is always a challenge. We rely on
telecom companies to work, but sometimes, it is very difficult to do so. At
CKN, we have more than eight internet platforms, yet sometimes we can’t break
stories or upload articles, because all of them are down. It can be
frustrating.
Information
gathering is another challenge. We are not as big as most media houses, so we
have to rely on traditional media and News Agency of Nigeria for news. We rely
mostly on our i-reporters. We have over 2,000 of them that supply CKN news and
stories all over the world. They are not being paid, but they believe in our
passion. But that is also another challenge. We have to authenticate their
stories.
The
issue of libel is another challenge. We don’t have legal department and lawyers
unlike traditional media. Getting personnel is another challenge. Because of
the economic challenges, we don’t have the resources to employ qualified staff
with the ability to do the job well. Many online platforms are run by one
person, who is the editor-in-chief, reporter and photographer. If anything
happens to him, the website will suffer too.
Being
able to attract patronage in terms of advert is challenging. You must build
your platform to a certain stage to be able to attract patronage. It depends on
your content and the level of reach.
Source: Sun
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