By Daniel Okejeme
Still in the spirit of International Women’s Month, stakeholders have been called to champion more financial independence and empower women.
Lead Consultant for Senema Production (SP),Emmanuel Ohimokhare, who made this call said that people seem to focus more on the issue of gender based violence and equality while neglecting one of the most important challenge, which is women empowerment.
He made the statement during a workshop organized by SP in conjunction with the Taipei Trade Office in Abuja, titled ‘Empowering Women in the Media, Strategies for thriving in today’s economic landscape’.
Citing digital space utilization training as one of such empowerments, Ohimokhare advised female journalists to key into the dynamic transformation going on in the media landscape for high- quality journalism and media businesses.
He said, “Women in journalism who are yet to embrace the digital space are missing out on the number one thing that will benefit their career journey. Learn from the younger generation who understand the impact and visibility digital space bring when leveraged on.
“Journalism is dynamic. Some years back, there was nothing like social change journalism or investigative journalism, but now it has evolved.
“We want this workshop to empower the women financially, making them more financially independent,” he said.
In her speach, Brand Manager and Social Media Expert, Esther Ilesanmi, stated that social change journalism can affect the growth of media in Nigeria through audience engagement by covering stories that address pressing social Issues, people are often drawn to content that resonates with their values and concerns.
Ilesanmi advised that trust should be built through involving in social change Journalism focuses that focuses on providing accurate and Impactful information about societal issues.
She said, ” Diversifying revenue streams beyond traditional advertising, media businesses can explore subscription models, events, sponsored content and grants to sustainably monetize their content.
“Other opportunities for growth
investment in talent and training are investing in the skills and professional development of journalists, particularly women, which is crucial for enhancing the quality and impact of social change journalism.”
Ilesanmi informed that negative stories trend more than innovative stories because people like to hear bad stories. Some of the good stories out there don’t get the expected outreach come to bad news.What we need to do as media people is to infiltrate the system with many more good stories so as to shape the narrative and ideologies of people.
