NYAC S4 E 13: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Reports Our Stories?

Not Your African Cliché

On this episode we speak with Oluwatosin Adeshokan, a freelance journalist based in Lagos, Nigeria, about his career trajectory and the current state of journalism in the country. We explore the circumstances that have resulted in big Nigerian/African stories being primarily broken by global, western news orgs like the New York Times, The Guardian UK, CNN, and the implications of this trend. We examine the role of journalism in holding power to account in Nigeria and wonder why local investigative journalism exposés do not often result in change (hint: shameless authoritarian governments and apathetic general public). Lastly, we discuss ideas for how journalism on the continent might evolve in a way that is engaging, speaks truth to power, and is better funded. ------------------ Resources: Explore the now defunct 234Next Website on Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20100701000000*/234next.com Oluwatosin's article on learning Mandarin in Nigeria - https://popula.com/2018/09/10/learning-chinese-in-nigeria/ Oluwatosin's article in the LA Times about dreams of Biafra in the East - https://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-nigeria-war-legacy-20190430-story.html Perspective on the implications of foreign media orgs telling African stories https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/01/african-journalism-stifled-lack-resources https://africasacountry.com/2019/02/whos-reporting-africa-now Zikoko’s This Naira Life reporting https://www.zikoko.com/naira-life/tough-hustling-in-nigeria/ ------------------ Episode was mixed by Ifeoluwa Olokode, theme song is Ayo by Femi Leye