Skye Bank Trains Journalists on Digital Reporting

A total of 100 practising journalists in Lagos and Rivers States have been trained on Digital Reporting in order to widen their journalistic horizon and efficiency in today’s digitalised world.

The three-day training workshop, held in Lagos and Port Harcourt was organised by Skye Bank Plc as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

The beneficiaries, drawn from the print and electronic media, were exposed to how iPhones, android and smart-phones, coupled with many applications, could be used to break news, speedily to a wide spectrum of audience.

Specifically, the participants were finance, capital market, labour, crime and judicial reporters.The resource person, Mr Taiwo Obe, a Commonwealth fellow, in his lecture titled “Disruption  of things,” said technology had blurred and erased the line of divide between those in the print and electronic media.

Obe, who is a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), said journalists are now story tellers “who tell stories in a digital age."
According to him, media practitioners’ smart-phones, Android and  iPhones are not only journalists’ “powerhouse,” but also the seamless tools they need to convey their stories to the target audience.

Another facilitator, who is the Managing Consultant at Michael Sage Consulting, Mr. Yinka Olaito, advised the journalists to build their own community of online followers and share quality information with them as a basis for recognition.
He cited Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Google, among others, as avenues journalists could use to share stories to sundry links. He noted that recent information from the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) revealed that about 83 million Nigerians are on the internet via GSM phones, seeking information.

The implication of the digital age, he added, “is that the bulk of the information seekers do not go to the traditional newsstands or vendors anymore but have migrated to the global digital village with the help of smart-phones among others”.

According to him, while story telling had since changed, a good number of Nigerian journalists have neither changed nor adapted to it, and blamed the situation on ignorance.

Earlier, Head, Strategic Brand Management, Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Nduneche Ezurike, said journalists need skills to survive in a changing media world where news breaks in succession. He said  journalists must be able to use their tools like androids, computers, and other others to generate time lines and other reports in a fresh and timely manner.