The Mario Blog

TAKEAWAY: It has been more than six months since Next on Sunday made a colorful splash into the even more colorful streets of Lagos, Nigeria (and nationally). We review this success story. ALSO: Pure Design is all about “whispers” today.

Sundays are bright and colorful in Nigeria

It has been a one-of-a-kind project for us at Garcia Media from the start: the creation of a new newspaper in Nigeria, under the leadership of Dele Olojede (with whom I previously worked at Newsday, in Long Island, New York), and who is publisher/editor/mentor/professor and colonel to a team of mostly young jounralists—-some making their first incursion into professional journalism. When Dele called me almost two years ago to discuss a newspaper that was basically in his brain at the time, I never hesitated for a moment. I knew that the return of the Pulitzer Prize winner (International Reporting, 2005) to his native Nigeria, to start a newspaper, would not just be the launch of another newspaper.

I was right! Sometime next month, NEXT will appear as a daily, but Next on Sunday preceeded it when it launched that first edition January 4, 2009. Yes, the design was quite different from what one sees in other Nigerian newspapers; color, bold typography and a new way of telling stories for the digital generation were all part of the package.

Most importantly, however, has been the lessons in journalism that Next on Sunday is showing with each edition. To hear Dele Olojede tell it:

“What we’ve found in the last seven months is that stating the facts plainly and simply is very difficult for people to get used to. But that’s why we’re doing what we are doing— to lay the facts bare before the public, so they are better armed to make good decisions as citizens. It is an exceedingly difficult environment in which to operate, but I think the public sense we are embarking on a rther special journey here, and that keeps us going.

I will be visiting Dele and his team in Lagos at the end of the month, as we prepare to launch the daily edition of Next.

For Dele’s remarks to the Aspen Institute last month, go here:
Video is near bottom of the page