Journalism without Fear or Favour

TheDispatch 2022: Journalism without Fear or Favour

For more than 20 years thedispatch has been committed to delivering the very best journalism to the widest possible audience.

Established in 1999, our mission was to be a major investigative newspaper in Nigeria ‘guided by a high tone of independent action’.

Our motto “Journalism without Fear or Favour” remains as true today as it did when it first appeared in our pages in 1999.

And we are deeply proud of what we have accomplished, proud of what we are and we are ambitious about what we can become. But our brief history alone does not guarantee our status as a force for good in Nigerian society.

It is our hard-won reputation – with its well-established watchwords of quality, authority and credibility – that help us to stand apart. Since our founding, we have built a large and loyal audience who keep plodding us not to relent.

To be part of thedispatch family is to be informed; it is to be curious; it is to be repugnant of evil and corruption; it is to enjoy life. At home, at work, on the move – thedispatch is not only what our audience needs it to be, but where they need it, too.

Our mission to inform means we have won countless battles for our journalism; we had won two libel matters and got one abandoned because Nigeria’s justice system is sluggish and notorious. Our incisive investigations live long in the memory. Our photographs paint vivid pictures with enduring power; our sports writers chronicle glorious triumphs and ignominious disgrace in equal measure. Our expert analysis and commentary sound clearly through the constant noise of muddled opinions and confected furies. Our critics celebrate and scorn, while our columnists cheer, condemn and provoke.

And all the while we choose cartoons and sketches that induce in many their first riotous laugh of the month.

The time for change is upon us. And what thedispatch will be in the future depends on our willingness and capacity to embrace transformation.

That challenge can be our opportunity. We may pride ourselves on our dependability as a monthly fixture (though hopefully to become weekly soon in new-found spirit) in our readers’ lives but that does not mean we cannot surprise or delight.

Our glorious heritage may be built on our past successes but that does not mean that we must be hidebound or predictable.

Indeed, our past success gives us permission to innovate. And innovate we must, for it is in the newness that thedispatch can find the keys to securing our future.

In an era of fake news, hate speech, and yellow journalism, words chosen well are the most powerful weapons we have.

Quality journalism – and the trust that comes with it – is the heart pump of our enterprise, the shine around which all our other activities revolve.

The journalism we create is setting the news agenda, sparking debate, provoking comment, outrage, satisfaction and amusement. Across all our products and across all platforms thedispatch would be playing a vital role in the society as well as at world stage.

It is incumbent on us to ensure that we continue to thrive, both for our current audience and for generations to come. thedispatch is for everyone but thedispatch cannot compromise its certain values. We are left of centre, in support of the wellbeing of our public, free speech, liberal economy and human face development devoid of despotic notions.

We’re in favour of enterprise. Thedispatch supports a corrupt-free society, fair-play, the rule of law and equality of opportunity, and advocacy of general societal malaise. But it’s also fun. People enjoy thedispatch.

Of course, our journalistic values mean nothing without the right culture among staff. To be successful we need an environment that fosters innovation and collaboration. Our newspaper’s values are that we are fearless – fiercely ambitious - we set the agenda and lead by example.

We work together, across all departments, are generous with our support and trust, open and unselfish with our knowledge.

We are open-minded, creative and pioneering, and we are not afraid to fail in pursuit of innovation. We develop our thinking through meaningful, stimulating and honest debate and self-criticism. We embrace diverse perspectives, backgrounds and viewpoints without discrimination but with journalistic ethos in minds – that we cannot compromise.

And we are committed to experimentation and learning to ensure all our employees are informed, ready to take full ownership of our work and results. With the right values and culture, our business can flourish.

We have rebuilt and redesigned our websites to be fully responsive. We shall soon launch thedispatch App, we will take our journalism to an array of new platforms like Apple News, Facebook Instant Articles, Google Newsstand, Amazon Echo and Snapchat and the sites of many international news platforms.

We will define our subscription proposition to enviable height in order to have huge numbers of subscribers of thedispatch newspaper and other products from our stable.

But we are operating in an ever-changing world. And we have the opportunity to do more.

Presently, our thedispatch newspaper is our flagship product. Soon, our website, mobile and edition apps will be crucial parts of our offering, but the printed page remains central to our mission.

We are committed to publishing a newspaper in perpetuity. It will evolve and change as we continue to seek to improve. We intend to make our digital products to offer us the greatest scope to grow and to engage our audience.

Our vision is to pioneer new ways to serve at least one million registered customers, bringing them closer to us and to each other. A registered reader – as opposed to an anonymous one – is far more valuable to the business than the vast majority of our audience as it stands now.

The ambition lies not just in the number but in the idea of encouraging registration.

Registration challenges us to ask what would induce people to look for our print and digital journalism. And registration challenges us to ask what would induce people to dwell longer on it once they’ve found it. It is a strategy that works for our journalism and works for our business too.

Initially, there will be a special focus, allied to investment in the following editorial areas – Politics, Campaigns and Elections, Sports, Luxury and Lifestyle, Showbiz, Business of Technology, Money and Travel/Tourism.

We believe all parts of the editorial spectrum can contribute to our new strategy but have identified these eight specialisms as providing us with immediate, tangible opportunities.

Our new strategy will require us to change how we measure success. It will require us to further our use of data, machine learning and other new technologies. And it will require us to train our staff to take advantage of all of these changes and to equip them for the challenges ahead.

Trust, quality and reputation count, more so today than ever before. Reputations are easily dissipated within a twinkling of an eye if we don’t adhere to principles of quality.

In addition to our journalism, the network of thedispatch experiences and products must have value to our customers that no one else can provide. Our quality journalism must bring an audience to thedispatch, but the community they join and the experience they have when they get here must make them want to stay.

Newsletters, events, rarified experiences, notifications and messaging groups – all of these are the kind of tools we are going to offer our audience exclusive value for their thedispatch registration.

We promise every day our audience will interact with us in different ways. And by developing those interactions in a more sophisticated way we can capture a fully engaged readership. Thedispatch will be where people go to find like-minded people. Where they go to learn things, to buy things, for enjoyment and new experiences. Where they get to meet new faces, old friends, people from whom they can seek advice or comfort.

We need to encourage their ideas, their opinions, talk to them directly, so that we become their number one destination.

The better we know our audience – the more intimacy there is between thedispatch and its readers on an individual basis – the better we can serve them. And the healthier our business can be.

Our goal is not just to be big, but to be the best. Our opportunity to win comes not from an attempt to pursue scale at the cost of quality, but instead by growing highly engaged, known readers, and by being confident in our ability to offer differentiated experiences and the very best reporting, comment, analysis and ideas.

By ensuring we are customer-focused, and have a detailed understanding of their needs, then our ability to develop world-class business offerings that complement and support our journalism will grow exponentially.

We have to create the right experiences, products and incentives that make reading and logging-in desirable, and offer our thedispatch community a network of experiences and products that no one else can provide.

We will make real progress in proving that we can do this. Readers must trust our independent journalism and should express a desire for us to help them in critical choices, be it about their finances or valuable leisure time.

We take this seriously and are determined that the services we offer will build, not diminish, the brand and reputation of thedispatch.

Advertising also remains crucial to our strategy. While we recognise the market changes, it will continue to contribute substantially to our business.

However, we will hone our strategy in line with the pursuit of quality journalism, enhance our digital creativity and provide thought-leadership, partnerships and unrivalled data insight across the digital landscape.

Our story is one of renewed focus, of quality, and of always putting our readers at the heart of everything we do.

This will be a multi-year transformational effort, and will require much work. But thedispatch comes from a position of practice and strength. The need for the quality, trusted journalism upon which we have built our reputation has never been greater.

We intend to serve this need, wherever our audience wants it, and to build a business that is sustainable for many years to come.