We all remember where we were when it happened, when we heard the news for the first time. It was our own JFK moment. You know, the question many Americans alive in the sixties used to ask themselves; ‘do you remember where you were when President Kennedy was shot?’.
We all remember where we were when we heard the news that Nigerian rapper Da Grin had died from injuries sustained from a dawn car accident that happened eight days before his death in front of the Alakara Police Station in Mushin, Lagos.
I particularly remember where I was when I heard the news of his passing. It was in April, 2010. I was working as an unpaid intern with a top advertising company on the Island. One of the few perks of working with that company was a couple of staff buses, one blue, one white, that ferried its staff to and fro the island everyday.
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So it transpired that I was inside one of these buses when I heard the news of Da Grin’s death. News that spread from the mouth of one person to another, fuelled by the sensationalist and gory nature of the story.
What was pretty remarkable about the story of Da Grin’s was just not the death of the rapper itself. A rising star, surely on the cusp of greatness, plucked by the cold hands of death from his family, friends and fans made for a very compelling story.
The other reason why it was so remarkable was also how it was covered by the media, nay one media outfit in particular. For many people, including myself, it was their first interaction with Nigeria Entertainment Today.
And it was really refreshing seeing NET report on even a gory story as the death of a rising star with so much professionalism and attention to detail. Something we used to expect from only foreign media but never from a Nigerian media outfit.
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Before NET’s advent seven years ago and even after, celebrity reporting in Nigeria, nay Africa consisted essentially of copying and pasting press releases, taking street gossip as gospel truth and basically trading in hearsay and speculation. For most media outlets, the ‘reporting’ in celebrity reporting was/is silent.
So NET came with a breath of fresh air, doing things differently, the way things should be done. And the way it achieved this was pretty simple. By simply keeping to the basic tenets of journalism; by maintaining sources, by good old leg work and grit, by dedicating itself to giving its readers precisely what they want.
It doesn’t matter whether it is reporting on the state of the economy or which brand new car your favourite celeb is now driving, these tenets should still hold true.
When Da Grin had the accident that led to his death, NET obtained exclusive pictures of him on his hospital bed. When singer Goldie passed on, NET spoke exclusively with her little known husband only a few hours after her death. At the peak of the Mo’hits disaster, Nigerian Entertainment Today secured an exclusive interview with D’banj in London. When the singing duo P-Square broke up for the first time, NET spoke exclusively with one of the men in the eye of the storm.
Exclusive content and breaking news have always been the lifeblood of NET, even as it should be for any reputable news organisation, entertainment-leaning or not. And even now as NET makes the metamorphosis from just being a news outlet to being a content platform, that will still remain its driving force.
The media landscape in Africa has changed over the last seven years and news organisations that have failed to adapt have been left behind. Legacy media that have failed to embrace the digital age are struggling to find their feet in this new world. NET has been in the forefront of news organisations who are utilising the new tools of technology and social media and combining it with the staples of traditional journalism.
Particularly now when publishing sites like Facebook are beginning to cut down on click bait, the media landscape is continuing to change. Only those media outlets who keep abreast with all the changes will be left standing.