Nigeria’s broadcast media market was exclusively government-controlled until 1992. Despite over two decades of liberalization and an increasingly vibrant media landscape, quality broadcast journalism and news programming remains limited. In 2011, AIM Media, a major media conglomerate and owner of two popular entertainment-focused radio stations, launched Nigeria Info, the country’s first all-news talk radio station. In a broadcast market dominated by entertainment-oriented content, a news talk-only station was a gamble. The viability of Nigeria Info also faced staff with varying, and sometimes quite low, levels of editorial and production experience, in addition to the absence of cohesive marketing and engagement strategies to grow and maintain its audience.
Despite these challenges, Nigeria Info held great potential to animate a public debate on the performance of government and increase pressure on governments to fulfill their obligations to citizens. Recognizing this potential, Reboot managed a grant to the station to grow its capacity to produce credible reporting on government spending and garner government interest in response to its broadcasts. In particular, Reboot aimed to co-develop and pilot a weekly radio program, The Portal, focused on education issues, a topic of greater popular appeal and political relevance to our target administration. The program sought to encourage audiences to engage both as clients of public services and as citizens with rights to quality education for themselves and their children.
NEXT
APPROACH