Featured, From the Editor-in-Chief
| By Mike Akpan |
WELCOME to the world of Realnews, the first on-line weekly general interest newsmagazine in Nigeria. Realnews is a product of necessity. As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.” Sometime in August this year, Hurricane Jimoh blew across Oregun Industrial Estate in Ikeja. In the process, the entire structure of Newswatch, an international award-winning weekly newsmagazine, was severely dislocated beyond recognition. Consequently, it became increasingly difficult for us to continue to practice journalism the way we knew it and in accordance with the age-long Newswatch tradition.
This is why we decided to abandon the ship that has lost its direction and is aimlessly floating on a stormy sea. The question that repeatedly begged for an answer thereafter was: Where do we go from here? The answer did not come easily. After series of meetings and exhaustive deliberations, we settled for an on-line newsmagazine which is now the global trend because of its several advantages. The world is now a global village and therefore an on-line publication has a global readership. Besides, it saves costs since its promoters will be saved the headache of worrying about the ever-rising costs of materials, printing and distribution as well as the fast changing trend in printing technology among others associated with the print media.
Realnews, as the name implies, will try as much as possible, to be investigative, authoritative, objective and thorough in the reportage of stories in order to give readers the actual news in every weekly edition. We assure you that every edition will be loaded with information that touches on the many aspects of human life. In doing that, we promise to be guided by our professional ethics. In short, mature journalism will be our watch-word. We sincerely believe that there are always two sides to any story and therefore we will always endeavor to reflect the views of all sides in our reports. Even if we report a story in which one side refuses to speak up initially, our editorial policy makes room for the right of reply.
As a mass communication medium, we wish to sound it loud and clear that RealNews is an independent outfit. Therefore, our loyalty is to Nigeria and not to any government in power. We will always look at every issue in terms of our national interest. We will praise the government whenever it is desirable to do so and also criticize it whenever it is necessary. But when we criticize, we will always provide alternative views. So, we invite you to visit our website –
www. for the maiden edition of Realnews. Subsequent editions will be out every Monday. You will never regret doing so. Thanks for your patronage at all times.
Mike Akpan
Editor-in-Chief
08023880068
— Nov. 19, 2012 @ 01:00 GMT
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