February 14, 2004: The value of news and public affairs took front and
centre stage at the Internews Local Voices Radio Station Managers
workshop that ended earlier today in Abuja.

Amidst back-slapping and camaraderie of meeting old and new friends,
radio station managers committed to actively strive for more depth in
their coverage of news and public affairs.

"We are returning to base imbued with ideas on programming and how to do
better audience-focused communication in relation to HIV/AIDS", said the
Manager Programs of Radio Kano, Hajia Sa'a Ibrahim.

Working in a state-owned environment, the tendency is for stations to
focus on what government officials are doing. Hajia Sa'a said the
three-day workshop had energized her about providing HIV/AIDS and other
public interest information.

For Ilemi Okoka, the vacationing GM of FRCN's Kapital-FM, Abuja, it was
an opportunity to correct some misconceptions about people living with
HIV/AIDS.

"I have been saved the possible embarrassment of airing my previous view
that people with AIDS no longer had any hope."

Ms. Okoka heard from people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) at the workshop
how they went from 'hopeless' and 'demoralized' to 'positive and
productive living'.

Working with the theme of News and Public Affairs Programs that Sell,
10 operations heads of radio stations in Abuja, Kano and Lagos explored
the social and economic value of public interest programming. They
identified the causes of paltry news and public affairs—from insufficient
attention at the highest level to poverty, including lack of resources,
poor revenue generation capability and competition from foreign news
organizations like BBC and VOA.

They also ploughed through internal concerns like censorship from
government officials and media owners; poor remuneration in many news
organizations; a stifling political environment; loss of professionalism;
and inability to do audience research.

"In many cases we find that programs are subsumed by what the marketing
department can sell. If the stations don't make money, you can't really
carry on", Okoka explained.

The problems seemed endless. They talked about inferiority complex on the
part of Nigerian leaders, who pander to the wishes of foreign news
organizations like CNN and BBC. They said foreign media organizations
easily get interview appointments from Nigerian leaders and are, thus,
the sources of breaking news for Nigerians. They were frustrated by the
fact that local media get interview appointments with difficulty, and
those appointments often get broken at short notice.

Contrary to popular belief in the broadcast industry that entertainment
and music are the most popular programmes, participants heard that news
and public affairs programmes are the biggest crowd pullers.

"There is a huge appetite for news, which is why BBC has 30 million
listeners in Nigeria", said Jim David Clarke, a former BBC correspondent
who is now a Senior Communications Advisor at the Society for Family
Health (SFH).

That fact was buttressed by Tayo Olokode, a strategic planner with
LTC Advertising, Lagos, a division of Walter Thompson of the
United States. Discussing the commercial feasibility of HIV/AIDS
programmes, Olokode said research shows that news-based programmes
are the reason people listen to radio in the first place.

"People want news and information, and they turn to the radio to get it."

The radio big wigs made a field trip to Organization for Positive
Productivity (OPP) in Durumi, Abuja. The leaders of the PLWHA support
group underlined the role of poverty as a cause and effect of the problem
of HIV/AIDS.

"This workshop was held to build on the foundation of training for the
footsoldiers of Radio broadcasting and journalism laid last year," said
Local Voices Project Director, Cece Modupe Fadope. "It will be followed
by a meeting of media proprietors in May, the first anniversary of a
similar meeting co-convened by Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti who died in a
London Hotel two days later.

Participants at the workshop included Paulyn Ugbodaga, General Manager,
Ray Power 100.5 FM, Lagos; Jacob Akinyemi Johnson, National Head of
Programs Development, Silverbird Communications, owners of Rhythm FM;
Hajia SaÂ’a Ibrahim, Manager Programmes, Radio Kano FM; Rev. Olufunke
Alli - General Manager, Ray Power 106.5 FM, Lagos; and Umar Saidu
Tudunwada, AGM of newly established Freedom FM, Kano.

Others were Alhaji Abdul-Mumin Sangari, Manager News and Current Affairs,
Aso Radio 93.5 FM, Abuja; Gbolahan Lawal Solarin, Director News,
Radio Lagos/Eko FM; and Charles Supo Orija, Head of News and Schedules,
Cool FM, Lagos; and Mohammed Bello -- Acting General Manager Kapital FM,
Abuja.

The workshop was held in the same week as the February edition of
Internews Local Voices Journalists Roundtable, which looked at Nigeria's
readiness for HIV vaccine trials and other HIV prevention technologies.