Journalism, trust and the pursuit of truth in the digital age

**BOOK REVIEW by Olayinka Oyegbile **

Title: Truth, Trust, and the Future of Journalism in Nigeria

Publishers: Premium Times Books and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (2026)

Editors: Chinyere Stella Okunna, Tony U. Onyima, Iyobosa Uwugiaren, Angela U. Agoawike and Kabir Alabi Garba.

Pages: 394

Year of publication: 2026

Reviewer: Olayinka Oyegbile

What is Truth?

What is Trust?

If you have the truth, you are trusted. If you are trusted, it means you have the truth. The two are not mutually exclusive. You can’t have one without the other. Journalism is a profession; some say it is a vocation. Whichever one you call it, journalism cannot do without the two- Truth and Trust; they are like the Siamese twins. They are inseparable. A newspaper is called Daily Trust, another, *The Guardian, *takes its motto from the immortal word of Uthman Dan Fodio which says, “Conscience is an open wound, only the Truth can heal it.”!

It is therefore not a surprise that the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) is today presenting to the world a book titled ***Truth, Trust, and the Future of Journalism. ***Let me state the obvious: journalism without these two ingredients: Truth and Trust, has no future. Most of us here today are old enough to remember a magazine called ***Akapa’s World. ***It was published in the late eighties and early nineties when the world of magazine publishing was the rave. What killed it? Lack of Truth and Trust!

You will remember that it came out with an edition, which claimed a certain Nigerian girl resident was a girlfriend to Michael Jackson! The same Michael Jackson, the greatest Pop Music sensation of all times with a Nigerian as girlfriend? It was the biggest news of the time. The magazine was an immediate sell out. If my memory serves me right, it went into several reprints because readers demanded for more copies. Akapa’s World outsold all news magazines of the time in Nigeria. I am sure most editors of news magazines of that time would have wondered why they missed such a “World Exclusive”.

As my people would say, “Ti iro balo ni ogun odun, ojokan ni otito yio fi ba.”, which roughly translates as, “If lies travels for twenty years, it takes a day for truth to overtake it.” The eighties was not a time of Internet, so news travels not by a click of a button. Newspapers published in the United Kingdom arrives in Nigeria two or three days after, not to talk of those published in the Americas and other far parts of the world. A few months later, perhaps after the magazine had circulated in the United States of America and other parts of the world, the truth caught up with it. Michael Jackson had no girlfriend going by the name the magazine published nor a Nigerian girlfriend!!!

What killed Akapa’s World? Lack of Truth and Trust!!! Simple.

It is against this backdrop that I intend to dissect this book today. The NGE has assembled field experienced editors to consider these two great ingredients and the future of journalism. Of recent, there have been fears that journalism is dying, not only in Nigeria but across the world. Technology has advanced journalism, some argue, and it has at the same time sounded its death knell.

In 14 chapters, each of the writers deals with the issues approaching them from different perspectives under the three sections it is broken into. The three sections are: Section one deals with: Truth: The Foundation of Credible Journalism with four essays. Section two is on: Trust: Rebuilding Trust in the Media, with five essays, while the third is on: The Future: Reinventing Journalism for an Evolving Media Ecosystem which is made of five essays.

The first article, “The Enduring Principles of Journalism” by Lanre Idowu, deals with the cardinal rules of journalism which have not changed and would never change despite the changing atmosphere in which the profession operates. According to him, “Good journalism is knowledgeable, credible, trustworthy, and sustainable… Bad journalism by contrast, conflates fact and fiction, privileges convenience over rigour, and often succumbs to vested interests” (P3-4). He lists out these enduring principles and the challenges they face, not leaving out how to surmount them.

Akpandem James in his titled “Journalism in the Age of Misinformation, Disinformation and Deepfakes” tackles the Hyra headed monsters of disinformation and disinformation as earlier narrated in the Akapa’s World magazine story. He declares that we are on the threshold of when. “The news environment has become toxic, and consumers are constipated.” (p19). He posits that the unregulated environment in which journalism operates has led to a situation where, “non-journalists now compete with, and even rival, trained journalists in content creation and distribution, often disseminating toxic material that undermines organized society and erodes public trust in the media.” (p21).

What does he think is the way out? According to James, digital technology which he sees as the profession’s Achilles’ heel has advanced the practice and to mitigate “The negative fallout of the digital media and sanitizing the communication landscape require an inclusive stakeholder-led approach. Strengthening the professional capabilities of journalists is not merely technical but foundational to maintaining an informed citizenry.” (p36).

In Chapter three, Kabir Alabi Garba focuses on: “Investigative Journalism in Challenging Environments.” Whether in a democracy or autocracy, investigative journalism is the torchlight to development and societal growth. However, since the return of democracy in 1999, opinions have remained divided over whether this genre of journalism thrived more under the military than in a democracy. The answer is blowing in the winds.

In tackling this, Garba observes that to sustain investigative journalism, there must be legal reforms, sustainable models of funding, regional collaboration and cross-border networks among others. In conclusion he avers that, investigative journalism helps to build public trust and that “it is not a luxury of democratic maturity; it is a precondition for it.” (p66).

In the closing the first section in Chapter four, Sule Yau Sule’s “No Spin Zone: Why Journalism Must Resist Public Relations’ Influence,” is a chapter every journalist MUST read and study with a fine toothcomb. It dissects the issue in a very matured and distinctive manner. I recommend its reading because many journalists are today more of public relations practitioners than journalists! This is not meant as an insult. Public Relations is not Journalism and vice versa.

Sule declares, “Journalism exists to provide accurate, verified and balanced information that enables citizens to make informed decisions; it promotes transparency, and holds individuals and institutions accountable.” (p72). That is journalism.

So, what is Public Relations? He writes, “Public Relations, by contrast, is primarily concerned with managing communication on behalf of organizations to protect their reputation, foster mutually beneficial relationships with stakeholders and influence public perception.” (p72). Any surprise why the media is shrinking? We have allowed the two to intersect and the thin line that separates them have become too blurred and unnoticed even by journalists and PR people are riding on this. However, our discerning readers and viewers can see those lines which we pretend not to see.

How then do we stem the tide? Sule, while believing that public relations is an important source of information, observes that the only way to rescue the media is, “By investing in investigative journalism, strengthening ethical standards, promoting sustainable media structures and maintaining a commitment to public interest reporting.” (p105).

Section two opens with Iyobosa Uwagiaren’s “Rebuilding Trust in Nigeria’s News Media”. In my opening statement I said, “If you have the truth, you are trusted. If you are trusted, it means you have the truth.”. According to him, “The challenge facing journalism is not a complete collapse of trust but its fragmentation. While many Nigerians continue to express confidence in journalism in the abstract, they increasingly question the credibility of specific news organisations, narratives and actors.” (p111). After listing the impediments to building trusts and factors contributing to its decline in the media, Uwagiaren concludes, “Trust is not merely a professional asset but a foundational condition for informed citizenship, public deliberation, and democratic accountability. Without it, journalism’s capacity to perform its democratic functions is significantly weakened.” (p137).

Tony Onyima in his, “Press Freedom and Safety of Journalists in Nigeria”, touches on how lack of safety nets impedes freedom of the press. Citing the arrests of Agba Jalingo in Cross River, and Steven Kefas in Southern Kaduna and the killing of the Saudi Arabian journalist Kamal Khassoggi in Turkey, he concludes that, “Where journalists are unsafe, democracy is diminished, where they are protected and informed citizenship and democratic governance are strengthened.” It is difficult to fault this.

Hamza Idris’ “Digital Journalism: Multimedia Skills, Cybersecurity and Audience-Centred Reporting” in Chapter seven deals with how digital technologies have reshaped and transformed how news is produced and consumed. He avers that the emergence of internet, social media, mobile technologies etc. have changed the dynamics of news, thus making it more “audience-centred”. Making copious example of the Daily Trust, Nigeria’s unarguably the most converged newsroom in the country, he concludes, “The contemporary journalist is no longer simply a writer or broadcaster but a multimedia communicator capable of producing content across diverse digital platforms.” (p174).

In Chapter eight, Sylvester Odion Akhaine in his “Media, INEC, Voters and Path to Credible Elections” traced the role of the media in ensuring transparent and credible elections through voter education and focusing on the electoral body to ensure nonpartisanship. As the country moves toward another election next year, he states that “INEC has its constitutional role clearly defined – to manage elections in a credible manner..” (P221), while “Voters require continuing education to enhance their capacity for informed choice in ways that undermine the tendency to succumb to financial inducement by unscrupulous politicians. Both the media and INEC can accelerate their activities in this regard. If these critical stakeholders play their roles, it is hoped that the Nigerian democratic train would be steered on the right course.” (p222). So much optimism as we march into 2027.

In closing Section two, Chapter nine by the duo of Eluem Emeka Izeze and Marcel Mbamalu, while dissecting “Journalism and Good Governance: Media as Public Watchdog”, approach this must talked about role of the media with the finesse of professionals who know their onions. Listing obstacles to the effectiveness of the media in playing the role of a watchdog they aver that, “In Nigeria, studies of media and governance show that the press served the public interest most when it operated from an adversarial position.” (p228).

This is the naked truth. Since 1999 when the country returned to democracy, attempts to hold politicians accountable by a section of the media have been viewed in some quarters as “threats to democracy” and this has indirectly led to, “A sustained drop in public confidence in mainstream news organisations, particularly in contexts where digital platforms have disrupted traditional journalism models.” (p223). How does the media get out of this bind? Izeze and Mbamalu believe, “Journalism remains essential to good governance…. The future of good governance is inseparable from that of journalism. Without a credible and trusted media system, accountability weakens, and governance outcomes deteriorates.” (p246).

The last segment of the book, under the broad theme of “The Future: Reinventing Journalism for an Evolving Media Ecosystem”, has five chapters. The first under this section (Chapter ten) by Chinyere Stella Okunna and Adaobi Olivia Okeke is titled: “Journalism Education and Journalistic Skills for the Future.” The writers take a comprehensive look at the training of 21st Century media personnel in line with world standards and current realities. While lauding the unbundling of the courses under what used to be known as mass communication into eight courses, the writers say, “Contemporary journalists are expected to produce contents across multiple formats, including text, video, podcasts, infographics, social media posts and interactive reports.” (p267).

Chapter eleven by Angela Agoawike with the title “The Future of News: Reinventing Journalism for Public Good”, vividly reminds me of Mr Muyiwa Adetiba’s TNT (Today’s News Today). In the 1990s, Mr Adetiba’s TNT was an early morning/mid-afternoon newspaper that prided itself as giving you ‘today’s news today.’ According to it, you don’t have to wait till the next morning to read about what happened on that day. It was perhaps Nigeria’s precursor of news on the go that later became the internet! In examining how to make journalism to be relevant despite “the rush by smartphone wielding members of the public to share news without first verifying its accuracy, journalism’s agenda setting and gatekeeping roles have been largely diminished.” (p281). However, she is optimistic that this trend could be salvaged. Her prescription? “Journalism may be struggling, but not because it has become irrelevant….Journalism must navigate the challenges posed by digital disruption to serve the public interest again. Therein lies the future of news.” (p295).

The major concern of the writers are issues of trust, truth and digital transformations and how these three have combined to change the way news is consumed and produced. Dapo Olorunyomi in “Digital Transformation and African Newsroom” takes a kaleidoscopic view of the changes that have occurred across the newsroom on the continent and how this has affected their operations. While agreeing that platforms such as Google, Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube and others influence news, he declares that, “The newsroom is therefore no longer merely a factory for producing news but a hub for curating, interpreting, and validating knowledge generated across digital networks…The newsroom of the future will therefore be more than a publisher. It will be part laboratory, archive, part civic institution, and part knowledge ecosystem” (p309, 326) All these would be achieved only if the media maintained continuous trust, truth and credibility.

Lanre Arogundade’s “Diversity and Inclusion in the Newsroom”, discusses how the media could help attain diversity in a multicultural, multinational and multilingual society like Nigeria. He believes the media is capable of doing this because “newsrooms can aggregate a range of experiences, perspectives, languages, to represent society properly and strengthen democratic deliberation more accurately.” (349).

The closing chapter by Azu Ishiekwene, “Economic Sustainability of the News Media: A Personal Story”, should interest a lot of us here today. How do we make news production self-sustaining and not dependent on ‘subsidy’ (Nigeria’s most abused word, if you know what I mean). After taking a look at how newspapers have survived in the past based on advertisements, copy sales and other business models, he concludes that digital disruption has since made these obsolete and unsustainable. Looking at other options such as innovation, diversification, billing big tech companies as recently approved in Australia, co-created contents as well as philanthropy and grants, he concludes that journalism can be strong, “if only it is financially viable.”

The writer of *Writing for the Media and Monetising It, *while assessing efforts and success of The Guardian in the United Kingdom in building a paywall for readers of its contents failed to tell us how efforts by The Punch Newspapers to do the same was frustrated by other leading newspapers who never thought it necessary. Perhaps, if they had followed suit, we may have been telling a different story today rather than allow our contents to be feasted upon freely by readers and tech companies who reap from our sweat!!!

The missing link

Consequently, this book deals extensively with the responsibilities of journalists and how to meet up with the changes in their profession. Fine lines of thoughts. However, with all the technological and digital advancements that have been made; how do we ensure we turn these into revenue yielding ventures to benefit the producers of the news and contents? This is an area we must focus our attention on. How far has the Guild’s appeal to the federal government to help make data companies pay for using our contents? Australia has done it, what are we waiting for? Journalism should no longer be treated as a social service or charity. Journalists have families and societal obligations to fulfill.

Finally, I want to salute the leadership of the Nigerian Guild of Editors for this landmark publication. The Guild should continue with such initiatives and not allow itself to be turned into a social club. This effort reminds me of the tenure of Lanre Arogundade as Chairman of the Lagos Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in terms of publications. The Guild has really brought the ‘Gown to the Town, and the Town to the Gown’, with the surfeit of experienced editors who came together to share their thoughts and demonstrate that they are not only good at editing or identifying news and features, but they are capable of enriching our curriculum with on the field notes written with academic candour and sagacity.

I will like to toe the line of Prof. Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika, who in her Foreword wrote that, “This is not a book to be placed quietly on a library shelf but rather a working manual for survival, a manifesto for democratic resilience and indispensable guide for anyone who cares about the future of truth.” (pxxviii). It should be made available to all institutions across the country where media studies are taught.

Prof Chinyere Stella Okunna and her team of editors deserve all accolades for distilling the thoughts of the contributors into what I strongly believe is a sterling academic addition to the growing literature of media texts written by our own people from Nigerian perspectives and experience. Thanks, also to Premium Times Books and NGE for the publication.