The media is
not your right until you die mysteriously
By CHINEDU HARDY NWADIKE
This is not good but true
because I often watch some upcoming entertainers sulking because the media does
not look their way unless they pay heavily. Their concern is that sometimes a
simple outfit of a celebrity makes headline on the media while their
achievements which are supposed to be more important are overlooked.
Although, it is really unfair
to watch bloggers especially in their quest for traffic publish every top
celebrity trash without looking the other way even when the materials are
really news worthy. This has actually affected our online media because we
often end up reading empty headlines every day and blogs who had entertainment
on their names are now posting politics and sports just to have reasonable
contents up there.
Because some upcoming
entertainers lack the understanding of how things really work, they end up
being news readers instead of news subjects. They sit at home and search online
to read stories about themselves, not knows that the gods of the media are yet
to receive their sacrifices.
They would cough out about
Twenty thousand Naira for a ‘New Music’ headline on one of the top music blogs
in the country, but will never spend five thousand naira on a news article.
News, opinions and features help your fans to connect with you; know you and
even live like you, but that will cost you money.
I remember when my friend Prince
Noel Unegbu was alive, media houses in Imo State gave us outrageous bills for
the promotion of Imo Got Talent, and while we were busy running around for the
money, none of these media houses gave us any form special treatment.
Few weeks later, Prince Noel
was assassinated and the same media houses had him standing tall on their cover
pages, the same space they never gave us at 50% discount.
Artistes like DaGreen became stars
at their death, songs by the Aluu 4 were played by radio stations who never met
them and this is same for many other entertainers whose little achievements
were maginified at their death by the media. Let them do it while you are still
alive.
The media is usually crazy
about the death of the smallest star and the crave for traffic; sympathy by the
public often makes it irresistible for them and you can never blame them in any
way.
My advice for young
entertainers, entrepreneur and all others whom the media could change their
lives or businesses is that they should walk up to a good media personnel to
help them publicize their works. Don’t wait till you are dead before you find
yourself on the cover pages of newspapers and blogs.
Someone will actually say they
do not have the money for that, and my advice is usually that they should
convert a huge part of their alcohol budget to media budget. Don’t sit down and
think that because you have performed in a high profile event, your pictures
will be the next on blogs; it doesn’t work like that.
Event managers are the first
to be guilty of this; they often feel that the media needs stories and one
blogger or journalist will eventually attend their events for the purpose of
reporting it for free. The media no longer works like that so don’t ever feel
it is your right. The news would simply be your right if there was a stampede;
fights that led to multiple injuries or loss of lives.
In the media, bad news is
free, good news is hype. Only the politicians understand this, which is why for
every small event they are organizing, they invite the media. They pay for it,
so don’t be carried away when you hear them on TV or Radio in one show that
looks neutral, but is actually sponsored.
I think young entertainers
should emulate young politicians, maybe not in their art of lying, but in the
obsession for the media. This is why most newspapers will have twenty news
pages and just two pages for entertainment news. It is not your right, but you
can still have it.
I don’t wish to say that
anyone is going to die at a tender age, but when death comes, your little
significance will take you to newspaper cover pages but you can take that to
the inside page for a start now that you are alive.
Media increases your relevance,
fan base as well as your contents on the internet, for those who are using
online media. It ensures that when your name is looked up on search engines, it
will return results that will keep your fans busy. It is worth every fund you
invest in it and is something every entertainer who is craving for national or global
relevance should imbibe.
I wish you all the best and
pray that you make cover pages when you are still alive.
