The great newspaper

IWhat is a great newspaper?

have asked young editors that question a few times. Each time I got the impression they did not like it. I think I can understand. An editor might incriminate himself if he defines a great newspaper in terms that show that his own newspaper does not measure up.

Not everyone has chickened out of this basic professional exercise. The most popular definition I have heard is that a great newspaper must have the widest circulation in its particular area of operation, say the country or the state. This makes some sense because the circulation of one newspaper is measurable against that of other newspapers. And we can easily see which is the leader of the pack.

However, circulation alone does not define a great newspaper. If it did, the Lagos Weekend, which once had the widest circulation among daily and weekly newspapers in the Daily Times of Nigeria stable, would be a great newspaper. It was not.

In the seventies, The Sun and the Daily Mirror sold four million and six million respectively. Compare that to the circulation figure of The Times at the time: 250,000. Both The Sun and the Mirror were not rated as great newspapers. The Times was.

Perhaps not many of us can define a great newspaper but like an associate justice of the US Supreme Court said so many years ago of pornography: We may not be able to define it but we know a great newspaper when we see it.

The ambition of every newspaper publisher is to publish a great newspaper. It is the reason for his huge investment. A great newspaper makes a great publisher, giving him the rare opportunity to rub shoulders with important elements in politics and the business world.

I am sure the ambition of most newspaper editors is to help their publishers realise the dream of making their newspaper great. It is the route to their own greatness too. Great editors are respected and feted by presidents, prime ministers and other important people in the society.

Let us rephrase our original question. What makes a newspaper great?

There are several routes to the greatness of a newspaper. Some newspapers are made great by reason of their primary target audience. Newspapers read by the shakers and movers of a society have a great chance to be regarded as great - all other things being equal. The point is that the greatness of a newspaper is a function of informed public opinion. There has always been a mighty struggle to keep out the word, popularity, as one of the attributes of a great newspaper. Yes, a popular newspaper is not necessarily great but isolation does not a great newspaper make either. We can resolve this by accepting that popularity plays a good part in the personality makeup of a great newspaper.

Some newspapers are made great by the gut and gumption of their editors. They afflict the comfortable by confronting them with incontestable facts of their perfidy. We know such editors as fearless men.

Some newspapers are made great by their editorial opinions. Neutrality is anathema to the greatness of a newspaper world. A great newspaper takes a stand and defends it in matters of public interest.

The New Nigerian in its great days before it was brought low by the shenanigans of military, ethnic and religious politics, was a good example of this. Its editorials were fearless, informed and well-reasoned. They took on power and spoke truth to it. Hate or love it, it was not always easy to disagree with its informed editorial opinions. These became its forte and its greatness rested on them.

Some newspapers are made great by their columnists. Al-Ahram of Egypt was a good example. Its star columnist was also its editor-in-chief, Mohammed Haikal. He was at the same time the minister of information and culture under President Abdel Nasser. Being a close confidant of the president meant that he often published the inner thoughts of the president. The world hung on his every word in his Friday column every week. The BBC Hausa Service rightly called the newspaper Mai fada aji.

Some newspapers are made great by their investigative reporting. Caarl Benstein and Bob Woodward glamourised investigative reporting in the seventies. The Sunday Times of London edited at the time by Harold Evans, was noted for its investigative reporting. The Washington Post and its star reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Benstein,supported by their publisher Catherine Graham, opened the political sluice gates of Watergate and drove President Richard Nixon out of office. These newspapers, among many other newspapers, are good examples of newspapers made great by, in some cases, a single reportorial incident.

These routes can be collapsed into three words: integrity, prestige and influence. Why are these the characteristics of a great newspaper? great newspaper must be reliable and credible; its stories must not leave room for denial; its editorial opinions must be wellinformed.

Prestige refers to the respect a newspaper enjoys from the public. A great newspaper must be taken seriously and duly respected for what it does and what it stands for. Its editors and reporters must not compromise themselves with news sources to bend the truth. It must always treat facts as sacred.

Influence is the ultimate objective of a great newspaper. Its integrity and prestige must lead to its influence. Its capacity to influence public opinions and the decisions of government sets it apart from middling newspapers. No great newspaper can be regarded as influential if it has neither integrity nor prestige.

It is very important for a newspaper hankering after greatness to determine its forte. It must be known for something. A newspaper, great or middling, must constantly search its own soul. But a great newspaper must resist the temptation to bend wherever the wind of public taste blows. The power of the editor lies in what he serves his readers and how he serves it.