Online media killing our businesses – newspaper vendors lament

Newspaper vendors and sales representatives of some print media houses in Enugu say their businesses are at an edge due to the infiltration of the online media.

In separate interviews with the newsmen on Wednesday, they said that the infiltration of online media has led to drastic reduction on sales of hard copies

They also cited the current economic challenges in the country as worsening the situation.

Mr. Emmanuel Okeke, who said he has been in the business for over 30 years, described the situation as very bad.

“I have been in this business for over 30 years, built a house with it, and married and raised children with it, but since I joined the business, I have never had it so bad.

“Things started declining as the online media crept into the business, as many of the readers now enjoy reading on their mobile phones,” he said.

Okeke said he was now relying more on the real estate business as an agent to feed his family.

A sales representative of one of the leading newspapers in Nigeria told newsmen, on the condition of anonymity, that the lack of patronage was affecting even the company negatively.

"Before, I used to receive 500 copies of the newspaper, and sometimes you could find unsold copies at the end of the day, but today I receive less than 100 copies, and 70 percent are unsold,” he said.

According to him, while the advent of online media started the decline of hard copies, the current hardship had worsened the whole situation.

“Since the advent of online media, people no longer read hard copies before you see someone buying a newspaper unless he has an advertisement or change of name.

“The situation has been made worse by the current hardship; people prefer to use their money to find food than to read newspapers, so it’s as bad as that,” he said.

The rep also disclosed that the rising cost of printing materials also led to declining fortunes for newspapers.

"Now, newsprint used to cost between N600,000 and N700,000 a rim, but today it has risen to between N1.5 million and N1.6 million due to the unstable foreign exchange market,” he said.

Another vendor, Mrs. Agnes Ezeora, said that many newspapers thought she was their agentin Enugu had gone online.

“All the papers have gone online and are no longer in hard copy, so I am just doing nothing at the moment.

"Before, I used to go to the airport daily for supply; I supply 50 copies of only This Day and supply other national dailies as well, but today I don’t go anywhere,” she said.

Ezeora said that she had resorted to selling provisions to make ends meet.

“I can no longer rely on the business; instead, I am now combining it with the sale of a provision store to survive,” she said.

Supreme News reports that many old vendors at the popular Edinburgh Street Enugu have joined property and house agents to make ends meet.