The new hangout is EverythingJournalismAJIBADE FASHINA THOMAS described it as ' a scintillating show'. Kole Ade Odutola called for a vote of thanks. Someone else admitted he had got more from the 'webference' than he could have gained from a media conference anywhere on the globe. You would think they were referring to an elaborate gabfest in some cosy venue in the real world. In truth, the subject is an online debate on the exit of NEXT newspapers, hosted by a linked -in group named EverythingJournalism. The NEXT webference generated 397 comments, featuring contributions from Richard Ikiebe, Dapo Olorunyomi, Andy Ezeani, Amzat Ajibola, Clem Baiye, Isaac Umunna, Stanley Egbochukwu, Bassey Udo, Nkanu Egbe, Pelu Awofeso, Dele Momodu, Casmir Igbokwe, Kenneth Tadeferua and so many others.An exhilarating discussion, with a lot of banter and jokes, it featured newspapers' circulation challenges, brown envelopes, readership crisis, the value of the newspaper in the knowledge economy, content development, salary issues, even the journalist/business man nexus. At the end of the proceedings, the School of Media and Communication, Pan African University produced a 71-page document, a collation of ALL the comments in the thread. What Olufunmilayo Ajala, a post graduate diploma student at the school had done, was to categorise the comments, currently being edited by Taiwo Obe, convener of the forum, into a workbook. The ease with which a distillation of the proceedings of the NEXT discourse has emerged highlights the advantage of online conversations. Everything Journalism will be one year old this month. It has 365 members, of whom one of the newest is Idris Akinbajo, the award winning reporter at NEXT.'Everyone who takes journalism seriously must look in', says Obe, an advertising and PR executive (he runs a firm with the curious name: Taijowonukabe). He talks as if the forum is a caf, a joint, a hangout 'where the most robust conversations on media and journalism' are the staple. Obe is passionate about journalism. A former editor of the Sunday Supplement of The Guardian on Sunday, he was the founding copy editor of This Week and midwifed the Media Review, vehicle of the Diamond Awards For Media Excellence(DAME), with Lanre Idowu. Mr Obe comes from a family of journalists. His uncle, Peter Obe, was one of the most accomplished photo-journalists the country ever had. His senior brother, Seinde Obe (aka Obe-Ess), is a significant newspaper cartoonist and the cartoons editor of this newspaper.Tejuosho Builds A Bookstore ChainWhen Nu Metro, the South African multimedia company, arrived in town half a decade ago, a few Nigerian book sellers shot the company an envious look. 'Foreigners should not be given Carte Blanche to take over the country's book retail business', complained Adeola Adewunmi, managing partner of the (now defunct) Bookworm Bookstore. It didn't help that Nu Metro was running two large multimedia stores, which stocked books and entertainment gadgets in the biggest shopping malls in the city: the Silverbird Galleria on Victoria island and the Palms Shopping Mall in Lekki. Nu Metro has since left the country, but its brief stay has seeded, in Nigeria, the desire of book retailers to grow big. Silverbird is running bookstores in its Galleria in Lagos and Abuja. The Hub media, which replaced Nu Metro stores at The Palms, is a Nigerian firm. But there's one bookstore that's surreptitiously growing, installing itself at gateways. Its name is Glendora Bookstores. It has always stocked some of the most important books of the day at its two flagship stores on Awolowo Road in Ikoyi: Glendora and Jazzhole (the latter was synonymous, for a period of time, with book readings in the city). In the past three years however, Glendora's boss Kunle Tejuosho has revved up the company's marketing instinct. It runs one newsstand each at the departure and arrival halls of MM2, the main domestic airport in Ikeja, as well as a bookshop on the First Floor lounge. It owns the bookshop at which you'd buy or browse a book or periodical, at theLagos International Airport, on your way out of the country. And now it has taken a fairly extensive space, at the entrance to the newly commissioned Ikeja City Mall.CORA's Belated Party For Idonije at 75The Committee For Relevant Art has postponed its annual end of year party from Friday December 30 2011 to Sunday, January 15, 2012 at Mars House, the committee's spiritual home in Festac Town. This third edition of the feast is dedicated to Benson Idonije, who turned 75 in the course of last year. Mr idonije, a former On Air Personality at Radio Nigeria, is a music critic and thrice weekly columnist for The Guardian. The CORA end of year party is a small annual event, basically for the central working unit of CORA. It's an avenue for CORA stalwarts to congratulate themselves for job well done in the outgone year. The standard fare is performances by the dance group Crown Troupe and the choral quintet Adunni Nefretiti. This edition is an occasion for renewal of the core principles: CORA turned 20 on June 2, 2011.Compiled by staff of Festac News Agency
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