Stanley Macebuh, the media guru in newspaper business, started it all. He had helped erect The Post Express, the first daily newspaper to go online in Nigeria. He was the pioneer managing director and editor-in-chief of Post Express before calling it quits to pave way for a younger generation to take over. It didn't take long, Post Express was offline before anyone knew it. Many have come and gone.Daily Sun, the tabloid, has not been consistent with its online publishing ever since it surfaced in the Second Republic on Orji Kalu's bankroll. Daily Independent plays a cat and mouse game not caring about the people that pays to keep it afloat. It pops up online whenever it feels like and I'm sure by now the hits to the site has gone down the drain.
Probably, the blame should go to web-journalism since it couldn't challenge newspapers on the streets where it's really practical. The Post Express is a perfect example. When Post Express launched its first online version in 1998, it appeared to signal a whole new trend in journalism. However, it turned out to be expensive and paying the dues wasn't easy. Newswatch equally did the same trying a paid subscription model but lost more readers because most readers weren't willing to pay since they could get the same news source elsewhere, free of charge.
The past four days or so, in my routine early morning News Desk publication, I noticed one or two things. In particular, The Vanguard Group of Newspapers have disappeared online without a trace or explanation whatsoever. Visiting the site, it reads "This is the Plesk default page. If you see this page it means: 1) hosting for this domain is not configured or 2) there's no such domain registered in Plesk."
I have been wondering what would amount to an authentic paper in Nigerian standard of web-journalism vanish online just like that. I hope the owner(s) of this unique newspapers that assembled some fine journalist would do something to avoid losing its archive in terms of making references. I have enjoyed reading the Vanguard for quite sometime now.
The Guardian, the best managed paper, in my own humble opinion, is being shut down as I write. Its employees have embarked on a strike the past four days or so, indicating "the management of Guardian Newspapers Limited wishes to inform members of the public that our newspapers have been off the streets and online, following an industrial action called by our workers."
What these guys are demanding is just a pay raise or some kind of benefits. Would that amount to taking a newspaper of Guardian's magnitude off the streets and online? Why not go to the table and negotiate to stay in business? Assuming that Guardian declines to the demands of its employees, my guess is that Guardian will instantly lose its value. The irony is a paper begun well by Macebuh goes offline after all these years of fine journalism.
