MFWA urges tech platforms to financially support media organisations

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has called on technology companies to financially support media organisations whose content attracts audiences to their digital platforms.

The Foundation’s Programmes Manager, Kwaku Krobea, said digital platforms benefit from journalism produced by traditional media organisations and should contribute to their financial sustainability.

Speaking on Joy Prime’s Money Making Monday, Mr Krobea said technology companies must be held accountable for the value they derive from media content shared on their platforms.

“Maybe the bigger conversation we should be having is, you know, the platform accountability, holding the platforms accountable to say … people are watching you because of our content,” he said.

Mr Krobea said the traditional media advertising model was becoming increasingly difficult to sustain as advertisers shifted more of their spending to digital platforms.

He explained that platforms such as YouTube and Facebook offer advertisers greater flexibility to target audiences based on demographics and interests, an advantage traditional media outlets do not provide to the same extent.

“Frankly, that business model is failing. And there are no two ways about that,” he said.

He noted that media organisations could also leverage their social media platforms to attract advertisers but maintained that this did not remove the responsibility of technology companies to recognise the value of the content that keeps users engaged.

Mr Krobea cited Australia as an example of a country that had taken steps to address the imbalance between technology platforms and news publishers, adding that other countries were also drawing lessons from its approach.

He, however, maintained that traditional media was not losing its relevance.

Rather, he said media organisations must adapt to changing audience preferences and patterns of content consumption while exploring sustainable ways of operating in an increasingly digital media environment.