Daily Trust - the online edition

The life of a newspaper, similar to that of any serious institution, is planned to be timeless. This is more so for newspapers because of their status in the society as veritable means of information dissemination and custodians of records and facts. Confronted with the fear of readers’ intolerance for self-praise and orchestration, of only a 10 years of publishing a newspaper, I surfed the internet for the history of newspaper publishing in the world.

I was amazed to discover that the world’s longest continuously published newspaper was called "Post Och Inrikes Tidninga" from Sweden and was first published in 1645, about 350 years ago. Then later, "The London Gazette" of UK was established in 1665, "The Newcastle Times" also of UK established in 1711. Of course, The New York Times and World Street Journal are newspapers that have been published for more than a life time.

Expectedly, and because of the short span of Nigeria’s independence, the experience of newspaper publishing in the country has not been legendary. In Nigeria, the newspapers that have probably been published the longest are The New Nigerian Newspaper (NNN) in Kaduna and The Tribune in Ibadan which started publishing in 1964 and 1949 respectively; a mere half decade and no longer than a working life. There is of course the vernacular newspaper Irohin Yoruba that began much earlier but is long rested.

Specifically, the rate of successful newspaper publishing in Northern Nigeria has been abysmally low. Most newspapers that started very well in the region have survived for less than a decade; mostly attributable to no fault of their own but due to the poor readership and advertising patronage from the region in the past.

In the case of the Trust; precisely the Weekly Trust which was the flagship and first published in 1998, the story of unsure survival was the same. This is because at the beginning, the paper was undercapitalized and could barely employ ten staff. There were no operational guidelines, accounting manual and important requisites like computers, cameras, vehicles etc that were needed for proper take off. The paper started with an initial capital base that was less than 10% of the estimated financial projections that was needed for the first three years. Indeed, the start up capital was what the then Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief, described as just adequate for a rich Nigerian to take his family abroad on holiday.

Consequently, the company was left with no option than to manage the lean resources it had and this was done by essentially paying salaries, taking care of printing, distribution and marketing costs. In 2001, the company made two major decisions to publish a daily newspaper and move shop from Kaduna to Abuja; the seat of the Federal Government. These two strategic moves gave the company a quantum leap in readership and advertising.

Six months into the take-off of the Daily Trust, the then Accounts Manager raised a memo that indicated that the company was in dire straits and could burst. Luckily however, the regularity, freshness of news and the independent reporting style of the newspaper however built readership and loyalty from the demographic north especially in the cities of Kaduna, Abuja and Kano. This was followed by advertising patronage from the blue-chip companies and advertising agencies in Lagos. Hence, the gestation period which seemed stormy was over in a short while.

In two former Northern-based newspapers where I had worked, the story of undercapitalization was the same. In the case of the Trust, the timing was right and favourable. Starting with a 24-page tabloid, the paper initially tilted its contents toward political and institutional reporting, outsourced its printing and distribution costs and deliberately maintained low personnel cost.

As at today, at its 10th anniversary, the company has changed its target audience from simple demographic north to wider readership that cuts across class and ethnic groupings especially among the urban population in the capital city, Abuja. The content of the paper has also changed from focus on politics and institutions to general-interest stories providing added space for issues, people and businesses. Advertising, even though largely determined by demography and regional bias has been positively influenced by the dynamics of Nigerian media markets where advertising billings have increased significantly especially in the telecom and banking sectors.

Now the company owns and operates its press located in Abuja and prints simultaneously in Lagos. The company now has seven regional offices with functional Editorial and Marketing departments in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Jos and Sokoto. It also has several other state offices and correspondents across the country. The staff strength is now about 350 comprising largely of Editorial, Production, Marketing and Advertising staff. Other published titles are The Sunday Trust and the vernacular; Aminiya. Specialized units like the Research, Special Projects, Information Technology, Legal and Administration departments have also been introduced. The circulation figures which began with about 4 digits in 1998 is now far gone into five digits while pagination has increased progressively from 24 pages to 56 pages daily including 16 – 24 colour production.

Yet, there are very serious challenges to worry about at 10. What about achieving top quality editorial and production contents that are comparable to well established newspaper standards in the world? What about deepening the markets to ensure that copies are available in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria at 6.00a.m daily? What about appealing to higher numbers of population segments in a multi-ethnic and religious society like Nigeria, and what about using internal resources to achieve higher growth and adequately rewarding staff and other stakeholders? What about complete editorial, commercial and managerial success? And what about building an enduring institution that would outlive a generation of workers like the leading and respectable newspapers of the world?

So far, public support and readers’ perception of our titles look very positive and suggest that if properly managed, many more successes can be achieved. In 2007, a report of a marketing survey by OMD Media Reach, a Lagos-based Marketing and Communication company ranked Daily Trust as one of the foremost Nigerian newspapers.

From our own internal research findings, there is indication of high level of believability and credibility of the Trust content especially in our news reports and in the analysis of our columnists.

The company’s core values of professionalism and high ethical practice was recently re-enforced with the introduction of the "No, Thank You" culture which encourages reporters and editors working for the paper not to accept gifts and gratification in the course of doing their work. The Board of the company has also recently developed Vision and Mission Statements that would take the company to the next level.

The Vision Statement says: "To build an influential media brand with strong national presence and deep local roots where the latest technology meets the highest professional standard, to create a world class media company in Nigeria".

While the Mission Statement says: "To be a multi-media company that makes positive contributions to the greater good of the community while ensuring adequate value for customers, wellb-eing of staff and impressive return to shareholders".

Right now, management is introducing new processes to improve the editorial content, drive new businesses, train staff, adapt full Information Technology and practice performance management where individual staff contribution can be measurable and rewarded accordingly.

The company is also engaged in social responsibility issues like giving scholarships to students, donations to the needy and automatic employment to the best Mass Communications graduates from universities and polytechnics

If management succeeds in this new effort, the Mission and Vision Statements will readily be transformed into reality. The only reason that may hinder the company from achieving this lofty ambition is to assume that it has seriously succeeded in the last 10 years.

Isiaq Ajibola was pioneer General Manager of Media Trust Limited, later became Executive Director (Operations) and now the Managing Director/Chief Operating Officer.

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