Social Media Week Lagos

Bringing Lagos 'Closer' Through Social Media Inspired Community Journalism presents an excellent opportunity to highlight the role of community journalism in fostering community cohesion, and improvements in overall governance, especially against the backdrop of the growth and capabilities of social and digital media in Nigeria.


Over the years, there has been a steady decline in community journalism with relatively little or no investment in the sector. Yet, today’s mainstream journalism can be traced to the launch of community newspapers, especially, the first newspaper to be published in Nigeria in 1859 titled ‘Iwe Iroyin Fun Awon Ara Egba Ati Yoruba’.


Interestingly, we are witnessing a reversal. We are now seeing individuals, groups and organisations showing keen interest in community journalism, and the sector is re-emerging. This has been further boosted by the Lagos State Government’s declaration of support for community media to provide access to information, resources persons and advertising. In recent years community journalism has made an impact by attracting government attention to important community issues.  The goal of this session is to create community connections with the tech ecosystem to better collaborate, educate, inform, and opens the minds of people to the power of media to create change.