This text was contributed to TechCabal by Damilola Ayeni.
Tech journalism in the present day seems to be extra like enterprise reporting than storytelling. Funding rounds, acquisitions, expansions, and layoffs dominate the headlines all over the place you look. In latest months, the South African Reserve Financial institution (SARB) has appeared in tech and enterprise papers for chopping its fundamental lending price by 25 foundation factors to 7.50%. This information, reported by platforms like Reuters, TechCabal, Bloomberg, and TechCentral, displays the intertwined nature of enterprise and expertise reporting, however practically each different tech story follows the identical sample. And that’s the issue. One can hardly inform a tech publication aside from a enterprise paper simply by studying its content material. Whereas enterprise media naturally cowl tech as a part of the broader economic system, tech media shouldn’t be caught on this slender body. Decreasing tech journalism to enterprise updates is like reporting on meals solely by the lens of agribusiness whereas ignoring its dietary, cultural, and social dimensions. A consequence of this strategy is that tech publications compete for a similar viewers of tech professionals and fans slightly than increasing readerships by exploring intersections with tradition, faith, agriculture, well being, and on a regular basis life.
Expertise is the applying of scientific data to unravel human challenges. From the straightforward creation of a machete for farming to the complexity of synthetic intelligence, it intersects with each space of human life. Inside every intersection, there may be evolution and battle. Farming expertise, for instance, has developed from machetes to chainsaws, lawnmowers, and absolutely automated harvesting machines. This evolution brings tales of progress, person adaptation, market competitors, battle of choices, and the affect of exterior components on tech decisions. Take King Charles III’s latest opening of a brand new parliamentary session. The horse-drawn carriage was an early type of transport that developed into trendy cars. But, Charles selected it over the Bentleys and Rolls-Royces in his fleet. This single choice tells a tech story in regards to the affect of custom on innovation, about symbolic resistance to technological development, and about how even in an age of hypermodernity, legacy applied sciences persist. However who’s telling these tales?
Past the royal carriage, there are numerous on a regular basis examples of expertise’s enduring intersections with tradition. In Lagos, employees commute each day in age-defying Danfo buses, stored operating by a hidden community of expert mechanics. There are tech tales within the rise of YouTube church buildings and the digitisation of spiritual practices. There’s a tech story within the polarised nature of public discourse on Nigerian X (previously Twitter), sexual exploitation on social media platforms, and the real-world penalties of on-line misinformation. There’s a tech story within the accidents attributable to phone-distracted drivers and the migration of life onto smartphones.
Even within the tech enterprise, protection doesn’t should be boring. Patronising updates about funding rounds and acquisitions ignore the realities of corruption, knowledge manipulation, and worker exploitation within the trade. Reporting on startup failures ought to transcend statistics to discover their human price—how does the collapse of 70% of Nigerian startups intersect with rising psychological well being challenges amongst younger folks, who’re principally the founders of those companies?
Journalists are additionally lacking the intersection between expertise and cultural shifts. Think about cancel tradition, a phenomenon born out of digital connectivity. Social media is reshaping non secular authority, as once-revered figures now face unprecedented scrutiny on-line. In in the present day’s digital age, affect is now not measured in church pews. Abel Damina, a pastor with a modest bodily following, appears to command larger on-line authority than among the common overseers of Nigeria’s largest mega-churches. Who’s telling the tales of these caught within the wheels of this transformation? Journalists themselves battle to take care of relevance in an period the place social media personalities command bigger audiences than conventional media homes. The place is the story on how social media is eroding journalism’s affect and the on a regular basis battle of journalists for relevance?
Expertise is greater than boardroom offers and enterprise capital. It’s embedded in on a regular basis life, shaping how folks talk, worship, transfer, and even suppose. But, tech journalism stays largely stagnant, trapped in enterprise reviews that fail to seize the complete scope of its topic. In 2023, Twitter was a political power. It practically delivered Nigeria a president in Peter Obi. However tech journalism largely ignored the story. How did social media form the elections? How do on-line actions translate into real-world votes? Why didn’t Obi’s on-line dominance convert into an outright victory? These are the questions tech journalists needs to be asking.
Maiduguri’s latest floods had been devastating, but tech journalists missed the human story. Many who had been trapped possible used cell phones to name for assist. Some might have relied on WhatsApp teams, Twitter, or Fb to coordinate rescue efforts. However did poor telecom infrastructure decelerate emergency response? Did folks flip to satellite tv for pc expertise or various networks when common indicators failed? These are actual tech tales, however they don’t make it to the headlines.
A publication that covers how social media is reshaping non secular authority or how expertise influences cultural practices isn’t simply informing tech insiders; it’s attracting sociologists, policymakers, non secular students, and on a regular basis readers who see their lives mirrored in these tales. With larger attain comes larger influence. And with larger influence come the metrics that appeal to advertisers and buyers. A tech journalist has no enterprise being caught in spreadsheets and press releases when there’s a criminally under-explored content material pool. Should you’re a tech journalist, your beat isn’t simply enterprise; it’s all the things. Go and inform these tales.
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Damilola Ayeni is the previous editor of the Basis for Investigative Journalism (FIJ).
