Twenty four months is a short time in the life of any worthy organization. The age-long adage: ‘Great things come to permanence via evolution, not revolution’ holds true today, as it did centuries ago. To birth a dream, to water its roots and to watch it sprout; to nurture baby steps and guide it into adulthood is not stuff for the faint-hearted. When that dream is an entertainment newspaper that seeks to reinvent entertainment journalism in a place like Nigeria, the stakes suddenly skyrocket. This is not a turf for the lily-livered or those who are quickly disillusioned.
Over the past twenty-four months, Nigerian Entertainment Today has sought to make a difference in the Nigerian entertainment journalism landscape. With attention to detail and responsibility as the paper’s key approach, it sought to elevate entertainment journalism above celebrity worship, gossip and mudslinging. From the outset, we recognized that there were possibilities in the entertainment journalism sector beyond the aspects listed above and made it a priority to explore these possibilities. Through previews, reviews, in-depth analysis, exclusive interviews, reports, opinions, fair ground for rejoinders and criticism, we have attempted to invigorate the sector without abandoning what was great about it before our arrival.
However, compared with where we are going, we are still very far away. Whatever has been achieved so far is way too little for us to think that we have arrived. What we have so far is less than ten percent of what we desire. We acknowledge the challenges ahead and know that we have to remain focused and be prepared for challenges yet unseen. Traditional media advertising revenues are dropping by the day as information dissemination on digital platforms gains more ground each day, something we anticipated very early on. Digitalisation will bring its own challenges in the future and we need to be prepared for that. The abject lack of a worthy distribution framework in Nigeria ensures that getting the paper to the reader is a constant battle. We will keep trudging on until that yoke is broken and an atmosphere that allows for proper distribution of books, films, magazines and, of course, newspapers is birthed.
Institutions are the bedrock of any admirable society. They ensure that initiatives go beyond the personal, for the personal can only go so far. Institutions ensure there will be continuity beyond the persons who birth ideas; they guarantee that the ideas will potentially be there for generations to come. This is our aim at NET: We desire that NET is not only a newspaper for today, but one for every day. We aim to build a reputable institution that is local in the execution of its goals but global in its best practices approach; we are striving towards a home-grown world beater.
The road is long and there are mountains in our way, but we find comfort and the needed push in the daily doses of praise and criticism that we get from our dear readers and friends all across globe. Your constructive criticism and encouragement has brought us thus far; let it take us farther. It is to these dear readers that we dedicate this Second Anniversary edition, with humility and gratitude for your continued confidence and unflinching support.
