Media practitioners have been urged by experts to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance their capacity for sustainable growth and profitability. This was voiced at the presentation of Business Journal in Lagos at the weekend.
The keynote speaker was, Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in delivering the theme of the event, “The Media in National Development: Successes, Challenges & Prospects” highlighted the importance of the media and its contributions to national development and urged ethics, standard, integrity which enhance national development are maintained.
Danbatta said: “The media no doubt has been the bastion of entrenching good governance and promoting development in the country. The media in Nigeria has principally played the protagonist role to midwife the path of the liberalisation of the telecom sector in Nigeria. We cannot, for instance, forget the contribution of the Nigerian media which includes the dedicated information and communication and technology pages in our national dailies and numerous related programmes of the electronic media which comprises the radio and television. The media have indeed paid their dues in initiating government policies in support of the growth of the sector.”
Danbatta who was represented by Mrs. Nnenna Ukoha, Head, SIM Registration Project at the NCC, noted that “the objective of development communication entails the media to carry out development tasks within the ambit of the society as well as advocating the essence of why the society should develop.” Besides, he said, the media “will continue to remain a veritable channel for the wide range of development campaigns which the NCC has effectively used. The media has also facilitated the achievement of government developmental goals and kept the public abreast of the state of development in the society.
In carrying out national development initiatives, The NCC boss also said the media should “at all times be free to uphold fundamental objectives contained in the Constitution by holding the government responsible and accountable to the people.”
Speaking on the topic “AI In Journalism: Where Is The Media Headed & What Becomes of Journalists?, Mr Tim Akano, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, New Horizons Limited, emphasised the need for media practitioners to take advantage of the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to remain relevant even as he called for the immediate establishment of www.Journalism AI.ng immediately with a view to making the benefits of AI more accessible and counter inequalities in the global news media.
Artificial intelligence (AI), according to him, is the simulation or hacking of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems, and stated that as of 2020, over 40 percent of the top 70 news organisations worldwide used AI in the media.
Akano said: “Artificial Intelligence is the biggest disruptor of the creation, production, distribution, consumption, and archiving of news products and services and, these are pinned on best way to improve life and living. He emphasised that the functions of AI, according to Akano, arev disarming and it includes monitoring, discovering, predicting, interpreting and interactions while the benefits amongst others include improvement of the quality of engagement and programming based on customer interest, trends, and scenarios; more so, machine learning can recommend personalised content based on user data on preferences.
Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of the Occasion and Commissioner for Insurance/Chief Executive Officer, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr. Olorundare Sunday Thomas, represented by Head, Corporate Communication and Market Development, NAICOM, Mr. Rasaaq Salami, said Business Journal coming out as a tabloid is going to add value to the system.
“We know that information is key and when we have a credible medium through which we disseminate this information, the people are better informed. Beyond the traditional role of the media which is to entertain and educate, I believe Business Journal has served this purpose in the past and I believe it can improve on whatever they have been doing,” Rasaaq added.
Earlier in his remarks, the Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Lagos State, Mr. Gbenga Omotosho who was represented by the Assistant Director, Public Affairs, Mrs. Adeola Olagoke, commended the publisher of Business Journal Newspaper, Prince Cookey, for the publication which she said will bridge the gap of information dissemination in Lagos State and the country at large and pledged government’s readiness to support the publication.
In his opening remarks, the publisher of Business Journal Newspaper, Prince Cookey, said the vision of the newspaper is to be the largest media outfit in Africa, delivering value to readers, advertisers and other key stakeholders through both online and print services.
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