Category: News

What are the innovation opportunities and challenges for the Guardian?

Introduction

The Guardian Newspaper is considered a British daily newspaper, which was founded in 1821 by a cotton merchant, John Edward Taylor. At that time this newspaper was known as the Manchester Guardian. However, in 1959, the Manchester Guardian became The Guardian. This was to exhibit the manifesting weight of both national and international business within the newspaper (1-3).The newspaper is owned by the Guardian Media Group (GMG) of newspapers.

What is innovative about The Guardian?

The Guardian is read mainly by people who are gregarious in their lifestyle. This includes people who are affluent and like travelling, fashion, finance and tech-savvy people, to mention a few. The Guardian only became a tabloid newspaper in January 2018(1-3). Its daily circulation has continued to decline from 204,222 copies in December 2012 to around 161,091 in December 2016, and has been making losses. In recent years, the Guardian in electronic format is now published online and its website was visited by 8.2 million visitors by May 2013(1-3). This shift to online publication is innovative.

Can the Guardian maintain its commitment to quality investigative journalism?

The Guardian is notorious for investigative journalism. In my view, I believe that the Guardian can maintain its commitment to quality investigative journalism. The Guardian was previously a Berliner (a newspaper format, slightly taller and wider) until January 2018 when it became a tabloid. The intention was to be cost-efficient because it was allowing the papers to be printed by a bigger variety of presses, which resulted in unacceptable levels of expenditures. For this reason, a cutback of approximately 300 jobs, including 50 roles will take place as part of their 3-year plan. This is so that losses can be reduced by 2019. (Sweeny, 2017). This action of transitioning into a tabloid came from a variety of factors, which includes the plummeting numbers in the printing advertising market, and the increasing cost of publishing newspapers because of the sudden transition towards digital media, like Daily Mail, Google and Facebook. Katherine Viner, commented “know that it is our award-winning, quality, independent journalism that our readers value most, rather than the shape or the size of the newspapers” (Sweeny, 2017). David Pemsel, the chief executive of GMG, stated that “More people are reading and supporting our journalism than ever before, but the print industry continues to evolve, and we must evolve with it.” (Office, 2017). With a cutback in workforce, it would be sensible for the GMG to continue to importantly demonstrate that the investigative journalism remains a priority and not to be sacrificed as a result of cutbacks. From this observation, it seems that the Guardian would be moving along in transition with improving the quality of their investigative journalism.

How can the Guardian learn from other industries challenged by digital disruption?

According to the Oxford College of Marketing, Digital Disruption is defined as “a transformation that is caused by the emerging digital technologies and business models” (Oxford College of Marketing Blog, n.d.) In other words, digital disruption is an attempt to possibly replace the current existing product on the market and the impact of its sentiment. The camera company, Kodak, presents a good example of the effect of digital disruption on an industry. Kodak was well known for its tradition to capture sentimental moments with its quality camera, and its film. Over time, it began to evolve into an optician chain. However, they were unable to keep up with the numerous changes to satisfy customers’ requirements. As a consequence, brands like Canon, which embraced the fast-paced technological developments, won over the hearts of the consumers with their new technology. However, Kodak was reluctant to change their principles and failed to embrace new technologies. As a result, this led to the rapid shrinkage in their market share, and they declared bankruptcy in 2012. Another sector the Guardian can learn from is the Healthcare Industry. NHS direct was a nurse-led service established in 1998 that provided the basic healthcare advice to callers, assessed their circumstance and transferred to the necessary service (Joanne, 2012). Unfortunately, they shut down because of their unwillingness to compromise their services at an agreed price. As well as this, NHS 111 has proven to be able to provide more services. NHS Direct was more based on self-care advice whereas NHS 111 is where they can direct you to your nearest service based on the information provided by the patient. From this, it seems that their service is more trusted and resulted in much less deaths. (Johnson, 2014). So, the challenges the NHS is currently facing today are completely different from yester years. If a giant organisation such as the NHS can embrace and harness the opportunities of the digital era, so should the Guardian newspaper. Taken together, I believe the lesson the Guardian can learn from these examples is that it is best to embrace new trends or new way of doing things, especially the evolving technological innovations, and to understand that the requirements of customers are elastic.

What role might the forces of automation and augmentation play in reshaping the operations and productivity of the Guardian workforce in the future?

In order to address this question, it is firstly important to define the terms “Augmentation” and “Automation.” Marc Andreessen advanced a theory that “the world would soon be divided into those people who told computers what to do (Automation), and those who are told what to do by computers (Augmentation).” (Andreessen, 2018). Automation, according to Groover Mikel (Groover,2014) is defined as “the technology by which a process or procedure is performed without human assistance”. Also, this can be defined as technology enabling to replace humans effectively in their jobs. Automation can be found in various places, for example, self-checkout counters, artificial intelligence, and in chatbots and many more. On the other hand, Augmentation is, according to Engelbart ,’Increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation, to gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems.” ((Engelbart and Engelbart, 1962) I believe that both automation and augmentation will have significant impact on the Guardian in terms of operation and productivity. Automation, whilst resulting in an increased productivity may be a hindrance in terms of use, price, risk relating to privacy and security, and the need to developing a user-friendly software. Systems failure would result in readers not accessing the site for information and this would result in a fall in advertising. The long term impact of automation on jobs cannot be understated as these would result in humans being replaced by machines. Machines are going to replace humans in order to maintain high productivity.

Serious issue remains- how reliable would be humans in working alongside machines in order to increase productivity?

Particularly, it would be very challenging to continue to be responsive to the evolving needs of readers as more advancement in technology know-how continues to progress rapidly. I believe that the role that automation may play regarding reshaping the operations and productivity is that they need to be there to verify the truth received from the augmented operations, before publishing can commence, in order to prevent defaming their reputation of producing truthful, dependable journalism . According to Andreessen, from a recent OECD study, 1 in 6 jobs in industrial countries were bound to be lost due to automation. However, this seems to be on the contrary, there is still a transformation due to take place, which is not for the benefit of consumers. One feature of automation pointed out is that many of the innovative jobs are more inferior and uninteresting than the replacement jobs. Whilst the hypothesis was correct, there are more drawbacks. The salary as well as the job can be seen as less reliable.

Should the Guardian Media Group invest in other profitable industries to cover the ongoing projected losses for the newspaper publishing business?

I do not think it would be sensible for the GMG to invest in other areas in order to cover the ongoing losses of the Guardian newspaper. In order to remain in the publishing business and not to rely or invest in other profitable industries for survival, I feel the Guardian needs to update itself continuously, especially as the massive pace of new technologies is evolving rapidly. All industries are currently experiencing the impact of innovations and advancement in technology from banking to farming. The newspaper industry is equally affected and no business is exempted from the impact of evolving innovations. The newspaper would need to adopt or incorporate a strongly managed public relations strategy with a platform for readers to talk with each other. That is the reason for the success of social media such as WhatsApp and Facebook. The Guardian is not alone in struggling to find a sustainable business model for quality journalism. Are there any ‘economy of scale’ innovations possible for the entire industry There are many formidable challenges posed by innovation and technology to all newspapers as a whole, including the Guardian. Innovation and technological advancements are usually designed to meet the insatiable needs of readers. In the present time, and in my considered view, I do not think there is any economy of scale innovations for the newspaper industry. In this day, access to readily available information and sharing with peers globally is common, inexpensive and can be executed effortlessly through sending an SMS or chatting in user-group forum on line. The industry would need to convince readers to download the necessary app to their mobile phones, etc, in order to access information. It is equally challenging to keep up pace with the evolving changes in technology and innovation, both likely to result in poor returns in advertising revenues and investigative journalism.

References

1. Andreessen, M. (2018). The Guardian view on automation: put human needs first | Editorial. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/02/the-guardian-view-on-automation-put-human-needs-first [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
2. Engelbart, C. and Engelbart, D. (1962). Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework. [online] Dougengelbart.org. Available at: http://www.dougengelbart.org/pubs/augment-3906.html [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
3. Groover, M. (2014). Fundamentals of modern manufacturing. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
4. Marr, B. (2018). The Key Definitions Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) That Explain Its Importance. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/02/14/the-key-definitions-of-artificial-intelligence-ai-that-explain-its-importance/#656f15574f5d [Accessed 2 Aug. 2018].
5. Mnielsen.github.io. (n.d.). Engelbart: ‘Augmenting Human Intellect’. [online] Available at: http://mnielsen.github.io/notes/engelbart/engelbart.html [Accessed 1 Aug. 2018].
6. Office, G. (2017). Guardian Media Group moves print titles to tabloid format as part of three-year transformation programme. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-office/2017/jun/13/guardian-media-group-moves-print-titles-to-tabloid-format-as-part-of-three-year-transformation-programme [Accessed 28 Jul. 2018].
7. Oxford College of Marketing Blog. (n.d.). Digital Disruption: What Is It and How Does It Impact Businesses? – Oxford College of Marketing Blog. [online] Available at: https://blog.oxfordcollegeofmarketing.com/2016/02/22/what-is-digital-disruption/ [Accessed 1 Aug. 2018].
8. Raut, S. (2017). Impact of Digital disruption on Education sector | CIO WaterCooler | CIOs CTOs & Change Agents. [online] CIO WaterCooler | CIOs CTOs & Change Agents. Available at: https://ciowatercooler.co.uk/impact-of-digital-disruption-on-education-sector/ [Accessed 31 Jul. 2018].
9. Sweney, M. (2017). Guardian and Observer to relaunch in tabloid format. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jun/13/guardian-and-observer-to-relaunch-in-tabloid-format [Accessed 31 Jul. 2018].
10. the Guardian. (2010). Guardian reader profile. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/advertising/advertising-guardian-readership-profile [Accessed 6 Aug. 2018].
11. the Guardian. (2017). History of the Guardian and the Observer. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-archive/2014/dec/18/histories-of-the-newspapers [Accessed 16 Jul. 2018].
12. The Guardian. (2017). Key moments in the Guardian’s history: a timeline. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-archive/2002/jun/11/1 [Accessed 16 Jul. 2018].
13. Triggle, N. (2013). NHS Direct to close down next year. [online] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24651402 [Accessed 2 Aug. 2018].
14. Tsang, A. (2018). The Guardian, Britain’s Left-Wing News Power, Goes Tabloid. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/business/media/guardian-tabloid-uk.html [Accessed 31 Jul. 2018].

The shooting of Sammy Yatim

On July 26, 2013 Toronto was crawling with events, streetcars were filling up quickly. Yatim was seated near the back when four girls got on and sat near him. Without any warning Yatim took out his penis and got up, he then pulled a switchblade on one of the girls and tried to slit her throat. which got everyone else’s attention (Rogan, M. 2014). At first Yatim didn’t want anyone to get off the streetcar but in a split-second moment Yatim told them to get off. Passengers that got off called the police, but one person remained, the driver. Yatim lunged at him when he fled off the streetcar but was unhurt. Finally, Yatim was the last one on board (Rogan, M., 2014).

Police then arrived, first on scene was Officer Forcillo and other fellow officers. The only information Forcillo had was that a girl was almost killed. Officer Forcillo drew his weapon and set up a shot on Yatim. He argued with Yatim to drop the knife but Yatim wasn’t being compliant. “No. You’re a fucking pussy” (Rogan, M. 2014). With every plea to drop the weapon Yatim had the same exact response. Forcillo had warned Yatim that if he took another step closed he would shoot. Yatim decided that moment and took one step out of the car. Without hesitation or letting his fellow officers de-escalate the situation he shot Yatim three times when he exited the streetcar. After falling to the ground Forcillo fired six more rounds (Rogan, M).

Seven months later Yatim’s family hired a lawyer. He filed a multimillion-dollar civil action against Officer Forcillo, along with other workers of the police agency and the agency’s board itself. The action taken was the alleging cruelty, excessive force and insufficient training. Three addition investigations were also in action. (Rogan, M.,2014)

Identify the Facts

In this ethical dilemma there are plenty of facts to identify. Yatim was eighteen and no history of mental health issues. Family, friends, and teachers denied he had any. That night the knife Yatim had was only ten centimeters long and Forcillo only had information that Yatim almost killed a girl. Another officer was trying to get Yatim to drop the weapon and in the middle of his sentence Forcillo shot. He took more shots than necessary to subdue the suspect, one officer had their gun drawn but didn’t fire and other officers didn’t even take out their guns. After Yatim was shot nine times he was then tasered. Yatim was pronounced dead at St. Michaels Hospital in the morning. After a video of the incident being released members of the public concluded that Sammy Yatim didn’t have to die. Forcillo was under investigation and ended up getting six years in jail for attempted murder.

Legal Obligations

As a police officer for the Toronto Police Service, it was Forcillo’ s job to protect and serve. He swore an oath to do so. Although, this is not what Forcillo decided to do. His obligation is to use non-lethal measures before using anything lethal because an innocent life can be saved. Instead of waiting for the taser he discharged his firearm where bystanders were present. The Toronto Police Service has seven key values and two of those were ignored during this incident. One being Fairness, he didn’t give Yatim a chance and two he didn’t use teamwork for help in de-escalating the situation (Toronto Police Service, 2008). No matter what it was Forcillo’ s duty to follow the agency’s policies and procedures.

Interested Participants and Values

The incident that took place that night had a variety of different participants. Passengers from the train, especially affecting the driver and the girl that had a knife pointer at her. As well as any bystanders, police officers, Yatim’s friends and family. There was a major backlash from the community because people thought Sammy Yatim’s death was unjust. The unhappy public viewed the police officer as not doing his job properly. This was also how the Yatim family felt. They believed that Yatim didn’t deserved to die and other options could have been used. Officer Forcillo was impacted because he had legal action taken against him, along with all the public backlash. The female with the knife was pulled on her is probably traumatized about the incident more so than the other passengers of the bus. Lastly, anyone that witnessed the shooting were probably horrified at the lack of de-escalation done by the officer.

Ethical Theories

From a Deontological perspective the officer should’ve taken all of the necessary protocols in dealing with Yatim rather than going straight for his gun as its his duty to serve and protect. It can be said that Forcillo didn’t follow this duty and used excessive force on Yatim. In Forcillo’ s defense he could’ve been under a utilitarian perspective that when he killed Yatim it was so that no one got hurt. That meaning in his mind he was doing what’s better for the greater number of people.

Options with their outcomes

The options that could’ve been taken to prevent the death of Sammy Yatim almost sounds abundant. Officer Forcillo had the option of a taser but didn’t know how far away it was, so instead of finding out he shot anyways. A beanbag gun could have been used to make the suspect surrender or at most drop the weapon. Even the use of pepper spray since there were no other passengers on board could’ve worked. A less lethal use of force was accessible but not considered. If a mixture of non-lethal and verbal judo was used then the situation could have easily swayed to a resolvable point. The use of another officer to de-escalate, like the one that was cut off mid shoot could’ve made Yatim comply. Even the thought of having no guns drawn, a generous amount of space between the suspect could have gotten the outcome when Yatim would comply. It was an off day for him, and it was out of his normal to be acting in such a way. Sammy Yatim didn’t have to die.

References

1. Rogan, M. (2014) The killing of Sammy Yatim. Retrieved from https://torontolife.com/city/the-killing-sammy-yatim/
2. The Globe and Mail (2018) The Sammy Yatim Case: When policing goes wrong. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/the-sammy-yatim-case-when-policing-goes-wrong/article31174172/
3. Toronto Police Service (2008) Business Plan. Retrieved from http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/publications/files/brochures/2006-2008business_plan.pdf

Historic Newspaper

June 28, 1914 marked the day that would turn the world upside down, this is the day that Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg were murdered in Sarajevo. They were severally wounded by Gavrilo Princip a 19 year old from Grahovo, who was a group of six assassins ( five Serbians and one Bosnian. The original political objective of the assassination was to essentially cut off Austria-Hungary’s South Slav provinces, so they could be claimed by Yugoslavia. This was a plot by the Black Hand secret society, which would often practice and promote terrorist methods to promote the freedom and liberation of Serbians outside of Serbia.

The marriage between the Archduke Franz and his wife had seemed to be more of an alliance than a marriage, and it turned out that Gavrilo Princip had fired two revolver shots, some by standers said that Sophie was seen almost shielding Franz with her body. Both shots hit, and a few short minuets later they both passed away. Some people conspire and say that this may have been an inside job that had been planned out most of the time, since security arrangements in Sarajevo were limited, the local military commander who at the time was General Micheal von Appel proposed that the route should be lined with troops. This seems like a very good and safe idea, but the general insisted that this would offend the loyal and local citizens, this left the protection for the visiting party was left accordingly to the Sarajevo police, to whom about 60 officers were on duty during the time of the visit on Sunday. This made this parade the easiest way to take out the Archduke, The parade crowd was loaded with the six different assassins and they each were in prime position to make a move, the first assassin went by the name of Danilo and was positioned in front of a garden to the right of the road. Once the motorcade passed he failed to act, he was armed with a bomb and a pistol. He was accompanied by Vaso who was positioned on the other side of the road, he too was armed with a pistol and a bomb but whenever the motorcade passed he did not act. Further down the road was the third assassin who’s name was Nedeljko, he was in some cover right beside the Miljacka River and was only armed with a grenade. The time was 10:10 a.m whenever Franz Ferdinands car approached and Nedeljko successfully threw the grenade, and the grenade bounced off of the folded down back of the Archdukes convertible cover and rolled into the street. The grenade went off underneath the car that was following the car carrying Franz and his wife, it went off and put the car out of commission leaving a crater in the road and wounding 16-20 civilians. Once seeing he didn’t succeed in the mission Nedeljko swallowed a cyanide pill jumped into the Miljacka River to avoid capture. The only catch was that the pill that he swallowed did not due much other than induce vomiting and since the river was so low the police found him and dragged him out of the water and was severely beaten before being taken into custody. With the first three attempts failing, the group knew that they had to act quickly as the rest of the motorcade quickly drove to the town hall leaving the disabled car in the dust. Three of the men failed to act due to the speed at which the parade passed them, whenever the parade arrived at the town hall for the scheduled reception, Franz Ferdinand showed very understandable amounts of nerves and stress with knowing that the bomb was meant for him. They arrived during the mayor of Sarajevos speech, this is when Franz Ferdinand had a sudden outburst in front of the crowd and told the mayor “Mr. Mayor, I came here on a visit and I greeted with bombs. It is outrageous.” He then suddenly became calm said to the mayor, “now you may speak.” Once the Mayor was done with his own speech, Franz had to wait on his own speech to be brought to him, he then proceeded to read the speech with blood dripping from his ear from the shrapnel of the bombing attempt earlier in the day. After the speech concluded the Archduke and the rest of his party discussed what the next move would be, they came to an agreement that the couple would wait at the town hall until soldiers could be brought into the city for the original idea of lining the streets. The couple also gave up on their plan of showing love for the wounded in the accident and going to visit them in the hospital. At 10:45 a.m Franz and his wife decided to get into the car again, this time the General of Sarajevo rode on the left hand running board of the car to attempt to protect the couple from the riverside of the street. The route had been going very smoothly until Princip had learned that the first assassination attempt had been unsuccessful, he quickly made his way to a food shop near the Latin Bridge. Upon arrival the first two cars of the motorcade had passed and had taken a sudden right onto a unknown side street that wasn’t in the original route, it is at this point whenever the driver of the car that the couple is riding in hits the brakes and stops to figure out where to go. Princip finally gets his opportunity and walks out to the car and shoots Franz Ferdinand and his wife at point blank range. Princip immediately tries to shoot himself, but was seized and arrested before he could fire another shot.

All of the men were caught, those in custody of Austro-Hungarian government were tried together and were put into prison. Anti Serbian rallies soon broke out within the following hours of the assassination and continued until order could be restored by military force. On the night of the assassination, country wide riots broke out as well as Anti-Serb programs and demonstrations were also organized int different parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, one part of the country in particular which was modern day Bosnia. Sarajevo continued to become more and more violent as the police did nothing to stop it, two Serbians were killed on the first day and many were attacked. One short month later on July 27, 1914 Austria- Hungary declares war on Serbia, which effectively set one of the most deadly wars in history in motion.

Introduction

The text- ‘The new rules of eating al desko” mentions an array of opinions concerning the issue of eating or drinking at people’s desks from some experts and office workers’ perspectives. Thus, aspects of genre, audience and purpose are going to be discussed in order to analyze the above text’s different features.

Genre

To begin with, the genre of the text should be an online newspaper article which may belong to the aspect of lifestyle. It is obvious that the article includes topics of eating, drinking at people’s desks with colorful pictures about food and exact time of the publication while it will not be provided by traditional newspapers. When the writer asked if there were any food people should avoid, City worker Rosie Johnson, one of the interviewees, who said never fish as it was smelly. Other than food, drinking is also another concern. For example, most of the interviewees agreed with the idea of drinking tea and coffee at people’s tables except boozing. Accordingly, all these reflect that it should be a lifestyle newspaper article online when its themes are surrounding people’s daily lives.

Furthermore, the formality of it probably is semi-formal or informal while it is different from normal newspapers which discuss serious international issues. It includes a multitude of contractions, such as “It’s madness” and “It’s absolutely OK to eat a snack at your desk…”. Not only does the text offer contractions, but it also provides readers with short sentences, such as “we asked some experts and office workers.”. It seems that the tone is casual, sentence structures are not complicated and in-text citations have not been used which may let readers understand the content easily. Consequently, the above explanations show that it should belong to a newspaper article on the Internet.

Audience

Not only do the language and content imply its genre, but they also indicate its audience which may be the general public, especially office workers. The wide use of personal pronouns demonstrates it mainly introduces eating al desko to every citizen while eating is indispensable and not only suitable to food professionals. For example, it possesses “I thought it would last about a week” and “it will do wonders to your physical and mental health” these wide varieties of first and second pronouns to enable readers to be more engaged in it. Only by using personal pronouns can increase interaction with readers and trigger them to consider the topic of eating al desko.

Additionally, this newspaper article does not involve a host of professional words which may let readers feel puzzled. For instance, the writer has already explained the meaning of eating al desko at the beginning as these words always appear. Moreover, not only has the writer asked some experts’ views, but he also interviewed with office workers since they are the people who always stay at offices. Their answers are simple, such as “Absolutely not” and everyone who reads the article will understand. In view of the lack of jargons, it is thought that the topic is universal and relates to every resident’s life instead of associating with job and professional areas. Hence, its audience should be the general public, specifically the office workers.

Purposes

Lastly, purposes of this newspaper article should be raising readers’ awareness and stating that eating al desko may depend on different situations. For the former, there are a number of rhetorical questions which enable readers to reflect on the issue. For instance, he asked if there was a right and wrong way to lunch at people’s desks. After being inquired, readers may start thinking about the answers and be more interested in reading the following content. For the latter, the writer only quotes ideas of interviewees who have two different stances directly and some of them believed that snacks could be eaten on tables. This shows that not all the food should be prohibited and the writer may think people have their rights to choose whether eating al desko should be implemented since he does not indicate his stance clearly. Thus, the writer aims to achieve these two goals although he may want to help The Guardian, one of the newspaper offices in England, gain financial support.

Conclusion

All in all, genre, audience and purposes of this newspaper article have been investigated. This essay is conducive to my understanding towards methods of analyzing a text and motivates me to learn more in the future.

1.1 Background to the study

In the passage of time, the Nigerian press has been frustrated by the problems of freedom that have become more difficult since 1960. After independence in the light of this, the Nigerian Press Council was established by Nigerian Press Council Decree No. 85 of 1992. This was announced by the government of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babagida to handle the complaints by members of the public in opposition to the conducts of the journalist in their professional competence. Through the amendments to its decree, General Abdulsalam Abubakar ‘s government vested in the council, powers earlier exercised by the newspapers Registration Board in the controversial Newspaper Decree NO. 43 of 1993.

Nevertheless, the Abubakar government annuls Decree No. 43 of 1993 and publish it on the same day that it was repealed. Without more ado and surreptitious re-introduced the obnoxious provision of the decree into the amended Press Council Decree, was without proper announcement. This was known as the Nigerian Press Council Annulments Decree No. 60 of 1999. The Nigerian Press Council new purpose includes the powers to register journalists as well as newspaper and magazines per annum. Be it as it may, the decree has legal sanctions on the proprietors and publishers of the newspapers and magazines, which fail to register in accordance with the provisions of the decree. It was understandable that newspapers owned and controlled by the government could not bring themselves to say anything critical of Decree 43. But even some supposedly independent newspapers could not acknowledge, much less denounce, the danger the enactment posed to Nigeria’s long tradition of press freedom. Not only was the criticism of Decree 43 muted at best, even most of the publications that stood to be wiped out if the decree was rigorously enforced refused to be drawn into an action to challenge it at law. The Guardian which took on the fight in the end on November 18, 1993, the day after General Sani Abacha ended Ernest Shonekan’s interim delusion, the Ikeja high court, Mr. Justice S.O. Ilori presiding, declared Decree 43 null and void and no consequences whatsoever, holding that Babangida had by an earlier decree divested himself of any lawmaking power

Similarly, in the year 2003, it was recalled vividly that the Newspaper owners instituted its own court to accept ethical complaints against the media, which was called the Ombudsman Mechanism. Justice Moronkeji Omotayo Onalaja a retired high court judge was appointed to preside over the court and receive petitions from members of the public, however its system proved abortive because the NUJ turn it down and for good reason since according to it then, its impossible for you to be judge of your own case and in extra precaution instructed all its members not to subscribe to it. Possibly newspaper owners should explain what became of its intervention through the Ombudsman Mechanism rather than discharging its annoyance on the Press Council Amendment bill, which from all indications is the only purpose and workable solution to establishing professionalism in journalism practices and curbing the excesses of media owners.

There are no doubt grey areas in the proposed amendment bill, although, believing that these grey areas can be thrashed out and a pleasant position brought to consensus by all rather than throwing away the baby and the bath water.

Under Decree 43 of 1993, eight years into the tenure of General Ibrahim Babangida, who had abolished Decree 4 imperatively and asked to be judged by his regime’s human rights record.

Despite the draconian provisions of Buhari’s Decree 4, that enactment is almost benign compared with Babangida’s Decree 43, which sought to return Nigeria to the era of newspaper licensing that even the colonial authority had terminated some 70 years earlier.

A Newspaper Registration Board, to be established by the Federal Government and having as its members some superannuated, out-of-work individuals who had at various times been engaged in some form of journalism, was the vehicle with which this sordid task was to be accomplished.

Every newspaper title was to be registered anew with the posting of bonds and fees as huge as king’s ransom. The Board could grant or deny registration without having to state any reason. Its decision could not be challenged in any court. Registration was to be carried out every year. Publication without prior registration could result in a fine of N200, 000 in the currency of that era, or imprisonment for seven years, or both fine and imprisonment.

However, successful registration did not guarantee uninterrupted operation. The Board could void registration at any time, without having to state any reason, and its decision could not be challenged at law. The entire premises of any newspaper which continued business after being denied registration would be shut down, together with other businesses operating there. Collateral damage, you know.

Publishing of the newspaper started in the year 1859, during the period of the early European Missionaries, by Rev Henry Townsend who established a printing press in Africa’s oldest vernacular newspaper known as IWE IROHIN. The amalgamation of Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914 its increase in nationalist tempo, the number of newspapers variety increased. With this, the amalgamation brought an increase to the market and circulation of newspapers. Between 1914 and 1945 sixty-four newspapers were published. The major instrument for political party publicity is the newspaper which has become a major tool for attaining political power. Therefore, publication of any material the authorities deemed disagreeable, that the proprietors and directors and every employee right down to the janitor would be held culpable as if they had personally published the material at issue. The penalties included a 10-year jail term for publication of ‘false news. It is on this basis researchers such as I have chosen to venture into the evaluation of newspaper registration laws and compliance by newspaper proprietors in Rivers State. It’s being observed that newspaper proprietors have not been complying to laws guiding the newspaper registration in Rivers State. This research therefore in a bid to assess the laws and conformant of newspaper registration.

1.2 Statement of problem

It is so far early to draw any firm conclusion about the evaluation of newspaper registration laws and compliance by newspaper companies in rivers state. This has raised a set of profound questions as to the quality of the form of reporting in the state. Do the proprietors follow due protocol while establishing a newspaper house? Do they abide by the laws guiding its establishment? How professionals are the proprietors? Inadequate finance? The poor condition of service? Are they equipped to deal with and comply with its laws?

The afore-mentioned constitute a great deal of problems, due to the fact that they contribute heavily on all business environments, affecting the quality of news coverage and reporting in the newspaper industry. In essence, this study is to look at the clogs recline to unravel the subjective laws and objectives saddled with the responsibility of meeting the requirement of the newspaper registration laws and processes that guide its operations.

1.3 Objective of the study

This study seeks to:

• Evaluate the newspaper registration laws that guide the newspaper proprietors
• Ascertain the laws that guide and protect its operations
• Determine how professionals are the proprietors in their field
• Highlight the compliance of the proprietors towards its registration process

1.4 Research question

This study seeks to answer some questions such as:

• In what extent do newspaper registration laws guides the newspaper proprietors
• How often do they adhere to the laws that guide and protect its operation to what extent are the proprietors’ professionals in their field are there compliance by the proprietors towards its registration process

1.5 Significance of the study

This study will be relevant to the following:

The proprietors of newspaper houses: this will serve as a guide to the newspaper houses

Newsmen or staffs of newspapers: this will enable workers to improve their professional activities.

Students of journalism: It will notify them with the challenges which they are about to face, prepare and equip them fully as regards what they are to expect in their professional terrain

News readers and the Nigerian society: The essence of the newspaper industry is to tackle some problems within the publishing houses, their reader’s expectation in terms of newspaper quality and reportage, would be met. The impediments of this include, the newspaper house would be able to disseminate objective reports.

Advertisers: This will be beneficial to advertisers through wide circulation, which will serve as a function of good management.

1.6 Delimitation of study

A study of the tide newspapers would be used to analyse the content of the study. However, a few newspapers which have suffered from similar problems will look at.

1.7 Operational definition of terms

Newspaper: It is any periodical publication printed with the assistance of a mechanical device and carries timely variegated events for the consumption

• Registration: A document certifying an act of registering
• Laws: The legal document setting forth rules governing a particular kind of activity
• Compliance: The act of submitting, usually surrendering power to another
• Proprietors: (law) someone who owns (is a legal possessor of) a business

The thing which develops persons rationality. The thing which make a person aware of what is happening around him or her. Now it is present in your cell phones you are carrying always around just like extra but necessary baby. It also can be seen in one hand of old people with a cup of tea in other hand. While taking a sip, they read and tell each and every house member who is passing by about any news which is worth listening to. It is not depend on any season, whether it is is cold outside or too hot. The paper boy will come and throw the newspaper into the house. It was not always like this.

Human passed so many histories and ages to reach the present. Today’s well-defined human was once a part of stone age whose life was only about survival. There only motive was to kill and hunt. There was no civilization or culture. If civilization was not there, then what is the need of any news. With passing ages human started getting civilized. Education came and people started to excel in many fields of of sciences. Awareness and sense developed in people and civilizations developed. The development of societies lead to cities and Empires and King became the ruler of their Empires.

Initially news was not what we see today. People didn’t knew what is politics, fashion, business or entertainment. The very first news were about proclamations, concerning Royal ceremonies, laws, taxes and criminals. It was all about what Kings wanted to convey to their people.

Do you know that how newspaper looked like in past. It was not printed but was handwritten. These handwritten newsletter used to pass political, military and economic news quickly and efficiently throughout Europe mainly in Italy in 1500 to 1700. It was called Avvici. These were similar to written letter. Then came the printing press which initiated printing press Renaissance. This was a revolution in writing world. The first printed newspaper published in 1609 in Germany but was controlled by government and then came England with the relaxation in 1695, so the newspaper flourished in London. In 1800 printing of newspaper started on a very cheap cost.

Till the present time newspaper technology has so much advanced. Now the news has not just remained in one form, but has developed into many types i.e print media, broadcast media, and the internet.

Fashion, business and entertainment has emerged with a great amount of follower. Now people have access to news only one click away and with the speed of seconds. They know what ever happening on miles away or on a far away lands. News is not just about national affairs, now people are more interested in international affairs because world is a global village now with no borders or any boundaries some people are criticizing these advancement because they think that advancement of of technology of news is hurting the sovereignty and nationalism of states but on other hand people are enjoying the convenience of quick access to news.

In this paper, I have written about political and national news media in America. I have selected three major television and print outlets in the United States. I chose CNN, The New York Times, and Fox News. I researched the three outlets ownership, their expected audience, their political affiliations, notable writers, and anchors. Each company has its own highs and lows in their reputation history. Lastly, I will compare and contrast the differences between my chosen groups. Every reporting association has their own political leanings. This plays a great role in national elections, including the presidential election of 2020. This paper will reference many different instances of their choices in reporting political events from the past few weeks.

Cable News Network (CNN) is a pay television channel owned by American Telephone and Telegraph Company in New York City. The station ideally believes in the Democrat Party in the U.S due to the exclusive positive covering the network has offered to this party (Martin, Gregory, and Ali Yurukoglu 2556). It boasts several anchors, reporters and commentators including John King. Fox News is a conservative television channel that is owned by Fox Newsgroup. The expected audience of this channel is all the supporters of the conservatism philosophy in the United States. In the recent past, this media house has been in controversy over favouring the Republican Party in reporting and damaging the Democratic Party. The media house has quite a large number of staff members among them, Tucker Carlson. The New York Times is a newspaper that is owned by the New York Times Company. The paper holds a liberal view of society, whereby it supports specific issues and undermines others based on their perspective on the issue at hand. There are about 1,300 staff writers that work for the paper with A.G Sulzberger as the chief publisher.

CNN was the main 24-hour news channel in the U.S. but in 2016 it was described as a global-multi platform network by one of its executives. During its prime years of service, it had a high viewership and following, but in recent years that has changed. The decrease is a result of bias accusations that have hit this media house. It has been frequently associated with the left-bias in reporting, especially on political matters.

Fox News, on the other hand, has only ever risen in popularity. It has recorded the highest-rated prime time over the past twenty-three years, and has been able to outperform other basic cable networks in the United States. Despite favouring the Republicans in reporting, the reputation of Fox News is growing bigger “and better in its increased dominance over the other cable networks.

The NYT covers a wide range of news in the U.S. It even received significant criticism by President Donald Trump, who regarded the paper as ‘fake news’. Despite this, in 2017 the Consumer News and Business Channel reported the paper had displayed progress by increasing the number of digital subscriptions. Factual research also noted that in situations where the paper errs, they always make corrections.

CNN’s network boasts itself as being a pioneer in providing 24-hour news coverage in the United States. To date, it has the lead on the different brands intended to cover news round the clock. It continues to deliver live reportage and scrutiny of news cutting across from sports, business, political, international and many more areas.

Among its main competitors is Fox News, which is lavish compared to CNN. Compared to other cable news outlets, Fox News outspends its rivals and has the most expense on average per month. Fox News is the media outlet looked at most to deliver statistics in business news. Among the cable television networks in the United States, Fox News continues to command viewership numbers for the last four years. The audience of Fox News views themselves as ideologists compared to those of its competitors due to the conservative nature of reporting in this media outlet.

The New York Times is the oldest paper in the history of the United States and also doubles up as one of the world’s ultimate papers. It stands out from other papers due to its unique supremacy in reporting capability since its inception, a trait which has been passed on for generations. Surprisingly the article has never led in following, but it has stood out over the years due to a cultivated, knowledgeable circulation at the expense of the mass audience.

With its large viewership, CNN has a very critical role to play in this year’s presidential election. This is because this media house has been consistently subject of bias in its coverage of political events. The media house has been liable for favouring democrats which means that they will help publicize those ideologies more compared to the republicans. In another incident, during the Democratic Party Primaries debate, CNN appeared to be unswervingly aligned to Bernie Sanders compromising reporting disinterest.

To a large extent, Fox news channel has allegedly biased favouring conservatives and the Republican Party. For this reason, Jonathan Bernstein has gone ahead to describe the channel as an extended wing of the Republican Party. This continued bias in coverage means that conservative and republican ideologies will be more publicized, thereby increasing the political muscle of these two parties during this year’s election.

The Times, being a paper that has had a good reputation over the past years, has a vital role to play in the 2020 presidential election when it comes to informing the public. Historically the Times has always favoured Democrats, and this year seems to be no exception. Recently the paper endorsed Senator Elizabeth, Massachusetts, and Senator Klobuchar, Minnesota, for the Democratic Party nominations. Although, despite the Times being persuasive globally, its potential to convince the civil society on electoral candidates vying for positions has been overrated.

The newspaper has a long and storied history, with major advancements throughout human history. Mass media as a whole has developed gradually over time, but the newspaper was the first medium for spreading news and advertising to the public. While technologies like radio, television, and the Internet developed later in time, newspapers still exist and are widely read around the world- a testament to their longevity. Because the newspaper was the first and original platform for mass media, for a long period of time the public relied exclusively on writers and journalists for the local newspapers to provide them with the latest updates in current events.

The history of written news dates back to the Roman Empire around 59 BCE. Back then, Rome was the center of the Western world and a hub of innovation. From constructing grid-based cities to inventing concrete, Rome lead the world in technological advancements. Most historians credit the birth of regular written news updates to the Romans. Acta Diurna (which translates to daily public records) which were carved news on iron or rocks, written about politics, military campaigns, chariot races, and executions. They were published on a daily basis and posted by the government in the Roman Forum.

While written news records existed for centuries after the Roman Empire, the overwhelming majority of people could not gain access to them, let alone read at all. The enormous costs of producing news sources made it very difficult to write them, and so the few that existed were very expensive and inaccessible to most laypeople. This all changed with the invention of the printing press, which was created in the Rome Empire by German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 based on the base of bolts presses. Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, established a complete printing system that perfected the printing process over all of its stages by adapting existing technologies to printing target. His newly created mold made it so metal movable type could be accurately and quickly made for the first time, an incredibly significant development in the history of media.

Within a few decades the printing press had spread to more than 200 cities in a dozen European countries, and via 1500, printing presses in process throughout Western Europe had already formed more than 20 million volumes. In the 16th century, as the printing presses spread even farther throughout the globe, the total output rose to an estimation of 150 to 200 million copies. The process of the press became so identical with the invention of printing that it gave its name to an entire new outlet of media, the press.

Over time, the massive increase in the amount of printed material in the world led to a dramatic rise in literacy as people learned to read in order to appreciate the new works being created. Thus, the invention of the printing press indirectly led to a large number of people learning how to read, since a newspaper has no value if no one can read it. This constituted a major trend in human history, since before the printing press existed reading and especially writing were seen as elite skills reserved for the very wealthy and religious. However, the printing press allowed the average person to gain access to reading material, and so it slowly arose that the populations of countries where there were presses began to desire access to such sources. Eventually, the majority of Europeans and later others around the world gained literacy in order to appreciate the new technological shifts.

After several centuries of prominence and various advances in technology that made it even easier, cheaper, and faster to produce newspapers, especially during the Industrial Revolution, the majority of the world’s population could read and had access to newspapers. However, in the 1890s, a new medium came along- the telegram. Radio and the telegram further changed communication by brining it to the global level. Now, it was possible to send a message from one part of the world to another, a further change in human development. This was followed by the rise of television and other additional leaps in technology that made the world a much smaller place. Newspaper continued to exist despite this technological competition, because they were the oldest and most entrenched medium there was. However, newspaper companies did adapt to the times, and eventually news spread to television and radio along with newspaper coverage. These contributed to a decline in newspaper readership, but the real change happened when a brand new technology emerged in the 1990s- the Internet.

The arrival of the Internet greatly changed the nature of print media. With its inception, there was direct competition between reading sources in the real world or in the digital one. In recent times, newspapers have had to adapt to this trend by going digital, and print readership has been declining for decades. Newspapers remain in circulation, and many people still read them, but large numbers of people around the world today get their news online. The fact newspapers still exist, albeit in digital form, shows how important they are to human understanding and how valuable people still see access to news. Newspapers may be a dying medium, but their significance in human history cannot be understated.

The most popular newspapers in Nigeria are The Nation, Vanguard and Daily Trust. In this essay, I am going to review them.

The Nation

The Nation was launched on July, 31 2006 and published by the Vintage Publishers Limited, Lagos. The newspaper has a two -term former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, as the proprietor, who also has a profile of having represented Lagos West Constituency in 1992, 1999 and 2007 on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy, (AD). In February, 2013, Tinubu cofounded the All Progressive Congress (APC) from a merger of other three political parties The Nation is a newspaper that publishes different types of news, ranging from local events, social and political issues, business affairs and sports news.

The motto of the newspaper is: ‘Truth in defence of Freedom’. It has the editorial vision of a national newspaper to provide credible and dependable information to any interest group. It claims that it is Nigeria’s newspaper of first choice among discerning readers. The newspaper has the mission to provide the general public with information they need to be free and self-governing in a democratic society. It is also to vigorously champion a return to fundamental principles of federalism, believing that it is the arrangement that can best advance the multifarious interests of citizens in a country of many nations and faiths such as Nigeria. It also has the mission to serve as an independent monitor of power and hold those entrusted with its exercise accountable through cardinal principles of freedom, justice and the market economy.

According to a 2011 survey by the Advertising Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) on Nigerian 15 newspapers, using supply and sales account of all the 45 newspaper delivery hubs, (though without a figure) the Nation was rated as the second highest selling newspaper in Nigeria (Ukonu, 2012).

It maintains the record of very strong presence in all the geo-political zones with a circulating figure of 315,000 at debut and later 195,000 copies based on dwindling economy, (Ekwujuru, 2009).

Vanguard

Vanguard is printed and published by the Vanguard Media Limited, Apapa, Lagos. It has the motto: ‘Towards a better life for the people’. This is a 48-page newspaper published daily and it devotes most of its pages to hard news, comments, pull outs for viewpoints and editorials alongside cartons and opinion. Vanguard Media Limited, publishers of Vanguard, was established in 1984 by Mr. Sam Amuka-Pemu, a renowned, veteran journalist and columnist. He is from Itsekiri land, Delta State. Vanguard aims to serve the people through unflinching commitment to free enterprise, the rule of law and good governance.

Major among Vanguard’s features include: Sports, Advertising, Management and Marketing, Maritime, Energy, Hi-tech and Computer, Aviation, Business and Banking, Tourism, Health, Labour, Human Angle and Women Affairs, Politics, Education and Insurance. It has developed a rich heritage as the most entertaining, refreshing, authoritative, detailed and reader friendly newspaper in the country. Categorically, it is a newspaper with a penetrating reach to all the major cities and semi urban places in Nigeria. The newspaper circulates 20,000 copies daily in Lagos, Abuja-12,000 copies, South-West 15,000, South-South 25,000, South-East 15,000, North Central 18,000, North-East 7,500 and North-west 7,500. These total 120,000 copies with a print run of 130,000 copies.

Daily Trust

Daily Trust is published alongside the Weekly Trust newspaper, as an innovative, versatile and market driven newspaper. Together, they constitute the largest circulating newspapers in Northern Nigeria with 40 percent of the market sharing in terms of advertising revenue. Daily Trust was established in January 2001 with the motto ‘Trust is a burden’ and was the first daily newspaper from the Federal Capital Territory, (Abuja) through an independent Board of Directors and 19 shareholders of the Media Trust Nigeria Limited.

It has the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive officer as Kabiru Abdullahi Yusuf. He was a Senior Lecturer of the Department of Political Science, Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, who has worked as a columnist and commentator for national and international media houses. The mission of Daily Trust is to earn public trust in the dissemination of credible information with core values of editorial integrity, ethical conduct professionalism, constant innovations, production excellence, market driven, promotion of national unity and African brotherhood, World peace and sustainable development (Usman,2001; Popoola,2014).

It maintains the vital provision for communication feedback in forms of Letter to Editors which share a page with cartoons. It has a mark as an informative and educative news publication using straight news and feature stories format. Its’ cover page stories are not only on topical and national issues but also on international issues in very lucid language to substantiate claims of a banner statement “The Newspaper You Can Trust” on all its editions Daily Trust has daily sales figure of 11, 672 copies (Adum, Nze and Ekwugah,2015).

A magazine is a regular publication printed in gloss-coated and matte paper, or distributed electronically. Magazines are usually frequently released and contain a range of materials. In general, they are financed by ads, a sales price, discounted cards or a combination of the three, while newspaper is a daily publication that provides written material on current affairs and is mostly printed with a white or gray background in black ink. Newspapers can cover a broad variety of topics such as politics, business, sports and art and may also contain resources such as opinion columns, weather forecasts, local service reviews, obituaries, birth notes, crosswords and editorials. Newspaper and magazines may have a couple differences in several things.

To begin with, the newspapers are somewhat different apart from the magazines. Newspapers are more motivated by readership than by adverts. Newspaper editors prefer to print contentious stories, and would loathe having an advertiser, no matter how big, tell them what they can and can’t run in their paper. Those who read a newspaper, however, do not have the time given to read the magazine, so newspapers are made very readable, so the articles are shorter, have more punch and get to the point quicker. Magazines concentrate on catchy headlines rather than the definition of baseline, in an attempt to grab the reader’s attention and get him to read the whole story. Newspapers do appear to have a variety of authors all triving for the same reader.

On the other hand, in a general rule, magazines are more advertising-driven than newspapers, and material in larger magazines is also reviewed very carefully against the criteria of those advertising. For example, a friend of mine who works at a major women’s magazine tells me there’s a list of fifteen-page guidelines for all products put opposite full-page advertisements for any General Foods product. Part of the explanation is that people sometimes equate what they’re reading with an ad that they see near the item. It’s a form of neural association, which is not much different from the way you actually remember exactly what you did on September 11 when you learned about the terrorist attacks.

In addtion, to write a newspaper, you’ll need to come up with a catchy, fast article on something that the people would enjoy reading in a few minutes over a breakfast. To include a similar piece magazine, you have to bring out something special, something specific. A magazine reader is looking for an article that makes them feel that either they have learned something of value, or that they have interacted in some other way with the rest of the population, or the world, or at least they have gained value in the form of entertainment. They want something that makes them feel like they’ve had that enjoyable time reading.