Multiple streams of income and benefits for journalists ( 2)

Otufodunrin at a conference in Kenya

Media Career Development Diary (53)
By Lekan Otufodunrin

Multiple streams of income and benefits for journalists ( 2)

This is the second and concluding part of this write-up on multiple streams of income and benefits for journalists. In the first edition, I wrote about speaking engagements, part- time teaching, freelance reporting and research as possible means of making additional income.
I am aware that the options may not be as easy as they seem, but I have no doubt that they are worth considering and improving on them to earn more income than I did.
I will be willing to provide additional insights on any of the options if you want more clarifications. Send me mail through lekanagency@yahoo.com or call 08023000621.
Here are the five other options based my personal experience and other journalists.


Editorial service
Last year I was contacted by a Nigerian in the United Kingdom who wanted about over 20 hours audio interviews to be transcribed. I was not sure how to charge for the job until a young colleague suggested that we check what is paid for such service abroad on google.
We did and found that it could cost as much $0.75/min per minute. We had to come up with a moderate fee which we were not sure the client will be willing to pay. To our suprise, he gladly did and those I gave the job to, got paid for what they normally do free or at a much lesser amount.
Proof reading and editing of reports and other publications are usually paid for by some organisations and individuals. I remember proofing about 120 page report for a Non Governmental Organisation before
A colleague who contacted a magazine publisher about errors in his publication was hired as a consultant proof reader.

Publishing
I once had an idea of publishing a motivational newsletter for journalists. Because I couldn't afford the weekly cost of the publication, I opted to photocopy 100 copies of the two page newsletter and distributed for free initially.
The newsletter, Stop Press was well received and the Managing Director of a top media organisation gave me N10,000 as his contribution to sustain the newsletter.
I later compiled the newsletter content into a book for sale. The newsletter also resulted in request for trainings and the launch of the first sponsored Young Journalists Conference and award.
I have published for sale some other books based on my media career development work.
 As journalists, we know so much about the beats, issues and the people we report.
At a point in our career, it should be possible to publish a book or booklet on what we have reported for years that can be sold.

Blogging and online publishing
In 2000, long before the Linda Ikejis and other current Internet superstars started publishing online, I launched the Nigeria Online Christian News distributed through email and at a time had a full website and  other online platforms.

Linda Ikeji  Photo: extigate.com

Almost 15 years after, the later years online publishers are smiling to the banks while I am probably not known beyond my traditional media associates and a few others and make little or no income online.
The difference between me and the internet 'money bags' is simple. I lost steam along the line and have been comfortable with earning the income I can get from my traditional media jobs.
The new age online publishers are however wiser to remain consistent and earn as much as possible income through various platforms.
Asked how financially rewarding blogging is, publisher of ladunliadinews.com, Ms Oladunni Liadi In an interview with The NATION said " It is just like “yahoo yahoo scam.”
“The money just keeps coming in, and sometimes you say God, this is something I started like a ‘joke’. I just wanted my own voice, I just wanted to write. But today, the story is different. It has been very rewarding financially and I owe it to God.”
For her, advert patronage on the award winning blog is “where the real money is” in blogging.
It could sometimes take years before you start making 'real money' online with a lot of hard work and sleepless nights involved,  but what is sure is that there is additional income waiting to be made on the digital platforms if we are interested and learn the skills involved. ( I will write an expanded version of this point in another edition soon)


Advertising
With some newspapers offering as much as 30% commission for adverts, journalists cannot afford not to be interested in sourcing for adverts where they have direct links with corporate and individual advertisers. There can however be ethical dilemmas in some cases where some advertisers want editorial favours that should not be granted.
In many other cases, there are no strings attached and you can even earn from one full page advert more than a month's pay.

Speech writing
After posting the first part of this topic, I was contacted by a colleague who told me that journalists should also consider earning extra income from writing speeches for political office holders and others who regularly deliver speeches.
I used to have a staff who was hired as a speech writer by a state government.
The inauguration speech of late President Umaru Yar'adua was reportedly written by a Nigerian international award winning journalist.


Thanks for reading and sharing this edition with colleagues. I welcome your feedback on other multiple streams of income and and benefits for journalists I may not be aware of. Your specific experience will also be valuable to share with other readers.
If you have specific questions on media career development related issues , feel free to contact me.  Telephone: 08023000621, 08050498530: Email: info@mediacareerng.org : Twitter: @lotufodunrin: Skype: lekanskype: website : mediacareerng.org

Multiple streams of income and benefits for journalists ( 1)

Lekan Otufodunrin at a lecture

Media Career Development Diary (52)
By Lekan Otufodunrin

Multiple streams of income and benefits for journalists ( 1)

Are there multiple streams of income and benefits, not gratifications, available for journalists to argument the generally poor pay in the industry?
The answer is yes, based on my personal experience and many others I know of.
With increasing cases of non- payment of salaries by some media organisations and high rate of unemployment, journalists have to be alive to the opportunities they can exploit to earn legitimate and ethical additional income.
The opportunities are indeed available but it requires mastering your craft as a journalist, diligence, hard work, creativity and other attributes to maximize them.
You must first be a very good journalist before the profession can open other doors of income for you. The quality of your work will draw attention to your ability to do other media related work.
You also need to consciously develop and acquire the capacity to do the other tasks which you will be paid for. You must also be able to spread the word about your other abilities.
I'm not by any means a very rich journalist, but I have earned average income in my career from full time employment and other media related extra work that have come my way.
Here are few of the multiple streams of income I know of in no order of importance.

Speaking engagements
Two weeks ago, I was one of the facilitators at a training for Local Government Information Officers in Lagos. I spoke on Use of new media for Local Government information dissemination. I was invited due to my full-time work as  Online Editor at The Nation and other new media related activities.
The invitation to speak is one of the numerous paid for speaking engagements at seminars, workshops and conferences that I regularly get.
A facilitator at a training by the School of Communication, Pan Atlantic University recently asked experienced journalists to submit their application for consideration as speakers for the various short-time courses offered by the institution.
Sometimes you don't get paid for some lectures, but every speaking engagement adds to your profile and can give you the opportunity to meet others who will pay you.

Part-time teaching
Related to being facilitators at training programmes is the opportunity to be part-time lecturers in media training institutions across the country.
A senior journalist told me how he taught for ten years at the Nigeria Institute of Journalism, NIJ, Lagos along with his full time job on the invitation of a former head of the institution who was on the judging panel of a media award. The journalist was the first runner up in the award.
I teach part-time at the University of Lagos and get paid for some of the courses. I know other journalists who also teach in other institutions. Sometimes, you have to ask for the opportunity to be engaged, even for free initially.

Freelance reporting

Photo of a my story in Christian Science Monitor, US

The first time I earned extra income for freelance writing was in 1999 while working at The Punch Newspaper. I wrote for a United States based online religion website and got paid generously in dollars.
I got the offer through a contact I made at an International Journalists Conference I attended in London. Before then, I had a free email-based Nigeria Online Christian News service that convinced the website editor that I was a suitable candidate as their Nigerian correspondent.
Since then, I have been a paid freelance correspondent for a number of international print and online publications and still do.
I am aware that most media houses in Nigeria don't pay for freelance work. A few do, even if it is not much.

Research
I once earned a thousand dollars for a research work I did for an organisation on the role of Churches in the campaign against the HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. Because of my involvement with Journalists Against AIDS, I read a lot about the pandemic and became a 'media expert' on it. I was able to do the research work and many others that came up later.
When an American journalist wanted a research assistance for a book project on Sharia in Nigeria, I was contacted. The pay was good enough for me to resign from a defunct newspaper I was working for then, which was owing me two month's salary. I know a journalist who is also a research consultant for an international research agency. He is always asked to conduct interviews and research on issues concerning Nigeria which the agency is working on for its clients.
He was recently paid for a research he did on expectations of Nigerians from the Buhari administration. The payment made it easier for him to pay his annual  house rent.

Thanks for reading and sharing this edition with colleagues. I welcome your feedback on other multiple streams of income and and benefits for journalists I may not be aware of. Your specific experience will also be valuable to share with other readers. The second part of this piece will be published on Saturday.
If you have specific questions on media career development related issues , feel free to contact me.  Telephone: 08023000621, 08050498530: Email: info@mediacareerng.org : Twitter: @lotufodunrin: Skype: lekanskype: website : mediacareerng.org

Ex-Ogun Information Commissioner named Saraki's media aide

Yusuph Olaniyonu

Former Ogun State Commissioner of Information, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu has been named Special Adviser on Media to Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, Dr. Benedict Effeturi, in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday said his appointment take immediate effect.
Olaniyonu, was before his appointment as Commissioner in Ogun State, the Chairman, Editorial Board and Sunday Editor at Thisday Newspaper.
The Senate Spokesperson who is also a lawyer was a graduate of Mass Communication from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta

Growing leadership skills: My story, my counsel

Media Career Diary 52
Growing leadership skills: My story, my counsel

I was recently invited to speak at the Kampala Meeting / Poynter Fellows Reunion of The Media Project (TMP) in Uganda. Unfortunately I could not attend the programme due to the ALI Media Fellowship inaugural class launch in South Africa which I attended. 

Here is the excerpt from the speech I sent along with a video recording to the Uganda meeting.

Brothers and Sisters, Gentlemen of the press. Greetings from Lagos, Nigeria. I am Lekan Otufodunrin, a very proud Fellow of The Media Project.

I presently work as Managing Editor, Online and Special Publications of The Nation Newspapers of Nigeria, not the one of Kenya which you all are familiar with. 

I want to thank the leadership of TMP for this opportunity to share with you my colleagues my thoughts on my leadership experience in the media in Nigeria. I thank them for the privilege, honour and trust. 

My apologies not being able to be with you all in Uganda due to another media leadership programme I am attending in South Africa. 

I had looked forward to a day like this based on my vision for media career development in Africa. I have always dreamt of platforms where as African journalists, we can share spiritual and professional fellowship.

I had always wanted sustained networking, peer review and learning experience among journalists in the continent beyond occasional programmes involving a few of us and most times don't last long after the meeting. 

My mentor who I had seen champion my kind of vision at the global level was Late Rev Arne  Fjeldstad  who passed on suddenly last year. It is hard to get over the shock of his sudden exit. I was waiting for him to upload a report of a reception our group, Journalists for Christ held for some journalists who won media awards in Nigeria when I got the sad news. May his loving, inspirational and caring soul rest in perfect peace.

The least we can do to keep his memory alive is to be the kind of Christ-like journalist, mentor, coach and leader he worked tirelessly to make us. 

In our newsroom, country and together in our continent, our impact must be felt as the 'salt' of the profession. We must always remember that as the bible stated, we are supposed to be the light of the media profession. 

By our excellent journalism practice, which we all must be committed to and the leadership positions we occupy at whatever levels, our light must so shine that our colleagues will see our good work and give glory to our father who is heaven.

Since Tuesday I have been in South Africa as part of the inaugural class of the Africa Leadership Institute/ Bloomberg Media Fellowship.

I was interested in being part of the three countries, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa media development programme due to the opportunities it provides to enable me become a better media leader in my country and in the continent.

I am glad to note that my being a TMP/ Poynter Institute fellow was one of the reasons I was chosen for the very competitive fellowship. I promise to be a good ambassador of TMP and spread the good news of what TMP has been doing and will continue to do to enhance leadership in the media. 

In my quest to provide leadership in whatever way I can in Nigeria, I am not only usually interested in participating in career enhancing programmes wherever I can find them , including online, I go out of my way to share useful information about fellowships, awards, jobs, trainings and other opportunities.

Sharing information through email list, website and the social media is part of the main work of the Media Career Development Service which I founded years ago.

We also organise workshops, seminars and other trainings on career development issues and collaborate with other media organisations. 

Continuos education on the job and self development are very critical to enhancing your status as a leader in the media industry. There are many opportunities if we try hard enough to find them. I urge you to maximize whatever opportunities you can get. I will be willing to send you all regular updates if you send me a mail at lekanagency@yahoo.com 

I want to encourage use to take advantage of being a journalist in the present global village we live in by connecting with excellent journalists through their websites and social media platforms. To become a leader one must be a good follower first. 

You should have local mentors but help is also available in abundance online. 

At Media Career Services, we initiated the Young Journalists Award and Conferences whose  winners and participants have become top media professionals within a short span of their career. 

Early this year, I launched a daily Media Career Diary on Facebook. Essentially, the diary is like devotional for journalists covering my experiences on the job, ideas, perspectives and best practices on media issues to promote excellence in the industry.

Due to my concern about the need for better synergy between media training institutions and media organisations, I teach part-time at the Mass Communication department in University of Lagos and also travel round other journalism training institutions to speak on media career and skills. 
 

The other major platform through which I reach out to journalists is the Journalists for Christ, a faith based media organisation to promote Christ -like journalism in the secular media houses.

We hold monthly fellowships where we discuss how to maintain a good balance between our faith and work. It has proved to be a good networking forum for all categories of journalists during and after the meetings. We provide counseling and support for our members.

At The Nation where I work, I combine along with my Online Editor’s job, liaising between editorial staff and management on administrative and welfare issues. 

I earned this role due to my interest in always asking editorial staff in the company, the crucial question Jill Geisler spoke about while we were in Poynter " How can I help?" 

 As a member of the management board, I do my best to draw the attention of the Editors and managers to the complaints and concerns of the staff and get them resolved in any amicable way as possible. 

I don't know what the situation is in media houses in East Africa, but in Nigeria we need more Editors and managers who can provide better leadership as mentors and coaches to bring the best out of journalists.

We need newsroom managers like a former boss of Jill Giesler who in order to encourage his staff before going on air will always say " Bloom my flowers" instead of issuing threats. 

Our Administrative Manager calls me the “Compassionate Editor".  I am happy to accept the title if being compassionate is one of the attributes of being a coach, mentor and counsellor  in the "mad house" which newsrooms are sometimes. 

When many other managers are losing their "sanity" all in the name of getting the job done, those of us who appreciate the fact that the reporters are as important as the stories they are writing should manage the "crazy" situations we sometimes find ourselves better. 

With the benefit of what we have learnt from the Poynter training and other resources available to us, I urge you all to do your best to show good examples of how to be better leaders in our newsrooms.

The flame of the bond of fellowship, being excellent witnesses as Christians in secular newsrooms and as leaders being our true brothers and sisters keepers in the media ignited by a Rev Arne must continue to glow and not allowed to extinguish. 

Our consolation on the sudden death of our great mentor, Rev Arne, should be like that as someone once said, good men will always die, but their good work will remain forever through what people do with what they learnt from them.

Photo: Postcard photo from fellows at the Kampala meeting

                                                                                                                           

Media training opportunities: are you in or out?

Media Career Development Diary (51)
By Lekan Otufodunrin 

In one of the promos for his hilarious business programme on CNN, Richard Quest spoke about the increasing number of billionaires in a world where many are getting poorer. He characteristically humorously adds “As the economic gap widens, the issue is: are you getting your fair share?" 
In this edition of this Diary, which, due to circumstances beyond my control I have not written for some weeks, I wish to ask if you are aware and taking advantage of the various opportunities for media career development in the country and globally.
Last Monday, I returned from South Africa where I alongside seven other Nigerian journalists participated in the inaugural class of the ALI Media Fellowship devoted to cultivating Financial leadership and Excellence in African Media.
We attended the programme with colleagues from Kenya and South Africa. Three other weeklong sessions will hold in the next two years in Nairobi, Lagos and Cape Town. I need not say that the programme was professionally enriching and intellectually stimulating.

The ALI Media Fellows will benefit from specialised learning opportunities covering financial journalism, business, economics, data analysis and public policy, with an emphasis on ethics and social impact. They will also receive coaching and have opportunities to work on collaborative projects. 

Check out www.alimediafellowship.org for all you need to know about the fellowship and how you or someone you know can be part of the next class which will be launched in October.
Under the Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa, Executive Training Programme is also on at the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos Business School and University of Lagos, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. Interested applicants, please apply here: http://www.gibs.co.za/bmia/.

ALI Media fellows at the launch in Johannesburg

One other programme that had kept me busy in the last two months is the Advanced Media Management and a ‘Writing in a Digital Age’ course at the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University which is sponsored by Google.  So much is packed into the various sessions and I can confidently say it has been an awesome "learning and unlearning" experience for the participants from media organisations in Lagos and Ibadan. 
Selection of the second batch of participants for this Course targeted at top media executives and others is on. You can contact me on why you think you should be one of the next participants and I will pass on your request to those in charge of selection. 
Beyond the two programmes there are many others like the Thomson Reuters Foundation in partnership with United Foundation training on coverage of the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2015-2030 which held last month in Lagos. 
Also in May, the second Nigerian Investigative Reporting Project of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, ICIR held in Abuja after a call for application and nominations by Editors.  http://icirnigeria.org/
Commonwealth Fellow and Founder/Director, The Journalism Clinic, Taiwo Obe early in June shared with me a call for application for a Thomson Reuters course on religion reporting in London. 
I sent it to a journalist who reports religion. He applied with all the necessary requirements and was selected for the all expenses paid trip and training. 
I know how hard organisers of the various trainings try to get participants. Sometimes deadlines had to be extended to encourage enough participants apply for consideration. When they don't get the people they want, they select those who apply. 
We can complain of many things not right in our media houses, but who is to blame when we don't try enough to keep abreast of opportunities that sometimes only require that one is disciplined enough to apply according to the stated requirements.
If you apply and you don't get selected, keep trying until you succeed. It is the least you can do to prevent being a spectator in an opportunities-filled media world. 
Like Richard Quest wondered, while other journalists keep getting invited to be part of various programmes, the issue is, are you getting your share? 

Thanks for reading and sharing this edition with colleagues. I welcome your feedback on what your experience has been with media career opportunities.
If you have specific questions on media career development related issues , feel free to contact me.  Telephone: 08023000621, 08050498530: Email: info@mediacareerng.org : Twitter: @lotufodunrin: Skype: lekanskype: website : mediacareerng.org 

How to 'attend' International conferences without attending

David, third(left) with other participants 

BY Lekan Otufodunrin
Physically, I did not attend the recent UNESCO World Press Freedom Day celebration held in Latvia but I was part of the event in a number of ways.
First, I was asked to nominate a young journalist to participate in the conference by the Information Officer of the UN office in Lagos, Seyi Soremekun. I nominated David Lawal, our Hard Working and Innovative Online Reporter at The Nation Newspaper.
Soremekun said the offer to nominate a participant was in appreciation of The Nation's media support for the UN work through regular publication of its press statements online and in the print edition. 
At The Nation, we do our best to regularly publish UN press statements on the various humanitarian activities of its agencies in Nigeria and neigbouring counties, without expecting any appreciation.
Most non-profit making organisations are not ungrateful of the support journalists give them. When opportunities, like participating in international conferences like the one on Latvia, come up they don't forget their 'friends'. 
At the conference, Lawal lived up to expectations and headed the Social media team of the Youth Newsroom which published a daily paper, Avviso, and online coverage for the conference. 
Ahead of the day, I checked the UNESCO website for information on the programmes to mark the World Press Freedom Day. I noted the weblink and social media platforms to follow reports from the conference and send comments. 
Thanks to new media technologies, if you can't attend an international conference in person, you can online and that is what I did. 
Though I was not in Latvia, I followed the updates on presentations and discussions at the conference. Through Twitter and the hashtags for the event, I was able to tweet on my perspective on the topics discussed and re-tweet interesting posts.
I tweet the statement by the Nigerian Guild of Editors on the World Press Freedom Day and links to published opinion and stories on the Day in Nigerian newspapers. 
Apart from having some of my tweets re-tweeted by the conference official Tweeter handle, one was published in the conference paper with my Tweeter handle and photograph.
My published tweet was: There is need for better reporting based on the principles of truth, fairness and objectivity ‪#‎WPFD2015‬@Youth_Newsroom @davidblawal
It's not too late to check www.youth-newsroom.com,@Youth_Newsroom and #WPFD2015 for what transpired at the Latvia conference. 
Lawal gave me two copies of the Conference paper, Avviso which I have read and learnt a lot from the contributions of various speakers.
Other Nigerian journalists who attended the event included, Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda, Edeatan Ojo, National President, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Mrs Anthonia Ifeyinwa Omowole, Executive Editor of Premium Times, Musikilu Mojeed and Ify Aronu from SplashFM Ibadan.
To keep abreast of trends in the profession, always be on the lookout for international conferences you can attend. If you don't get invited or can't pay your way to the conference, do not miss out totally on the proceedings; Go online. 
You can also set a Google alert (www.google.com/alert) for an international event you are interested in reporting with a key word that could likely be used in reports on the Internet. 
Lawal was able to report the World Economic Forum 2015 in Davos, Switzerland without being there with the help of Google alert.
Photos: Lawal (third from Left) and Aronu ( first right) and other participants at the conference
Thanks for reading and sharing this edition with other colleagues. I welcome your feedback on this topics. If you have specific questions on media career development related issues, feel free to contact me. You can read past articles on this series on my Facebook wall,www.mediacareerng.org and my LinkedIn in page. 
Telephone: 08023000621, 08050498530: Email: info@mediacareerng.org : Twitter: @lotufodunrin: Skype: lekanskype: website : mediacareerng.org