Solo Journalism Is The Future Of Journalism

Isii? (Igbo people's way of saying 'you said?' or 'what?' - depending). That's exactly what I imagined you think or saying after reading the headline. Like what in heaven is solo journalism? Don't rush, we'd get through it quickly.

Let's start with the fact that ideally, a journalist writes for a media outfit - Print - Sun, Vanguard, Independence, Complete Fashion, and Broadcast - Silverbird, AIT, Channels, EbonyLife, Cool fm and the rest. A solo journalist is just a journalist who runs his or her media outfit by himself or herself. Forget a journalism degree, a degree in English or any other writing course. No one needs that. Just have a knowledge of something, consistently express your thoughts on the subject and voila, you are the newest solo journalist in the block. Lol, it's  not exactly this easy in practice, we are not talking about a walk in  the park here.

Zachary Kyra-Derkson is a solo journalist who only writes about Elon Musk, producing two articles every week. Uncle Elon is definitely a media rave. I want to be like him when I grow up, imagine being a niche for a solo journalist. Lol. That's by the way. Harrison Terry has over 10,000 subscribers and he publishes just once in every week. Victor Ugoo Njoku pulls over 5000 monthly readers as a solo journalist writing about Social Media, Technology and Personal Development. Let's not forget our blog Queen Linda Ikeji, whose solo journalism practice is worth over 500 million Naira.

A lot of the big media are presently struggling with trust issues. We all know that the media only project the interest of the owners. This people would eagerly slaughter their readers for the sake of their investors. They get paid big bucks to write reviews and serve us contents that suits whatever purpose aimed to achieve. The solo journalist is there to fill the knowledge gap and to be the voice of credibility that is obviously lacking.

This ever rising breed of journalists are ready to take risks that the conventional media can't take. A solo journalist thrives on being opinionated and expressing thoughts from their own point of view. Though the big media put out editorials, they play safe with the opinions expressed. Being careful not to lose readership. This style of journalism brings about rapport between readers and writers. The both arguing a point or a series of points. Almost every solo journalist has that reader who is always opposing the thoughts expressed by journalist. Why the argument could be intense at some points, there-in lies a selling point for solo journalist.

The solo journalist isn't exactly interested in being the first to report issues as typical of the conventional media. Who cares about that in 2017? All we want is a voice of truth, a voice that we can understand and a voice that we can relate to. This, the solo journalist provides.

You may argue about the need for editing and gate keeping. You may argue that the solo journalist won't compete favourably with the big media who are investing in Journobots (robot journalists). Well, with the solo journalists, we are sure human writers are still going to be around a while longer. Onye siri (who says) that AI can't even help solo journalists? With GRAMMARLY, a solo journalist can easily edit in less than a twinkle of an eye. Switching from British English to American English with ease. YOAST helps the solos journalist create contents that are SEO friendly. This certainly isn't all...