“Why should I keep studying journalism if it’s dying?” A journalism student asked me this in Nairobi earlier this year. I couldn’t brush it off because it could have come from anyone in our industry. It’s the question haunting our profession.

Journalism’s difficult evolution

Journalism is not dying, it’s going through a difficult but necessary evolution. Journalism still matters enormously, perhaps more than ever. It not only provides people with the information they need, it helps them make sense of the world, and also holds those in power accountable.

But it can only continue to have that power - if we, as journalists and media leaders, are willing to let go of what no longer works, but most importantly, brave enough to embrace change and experiment with new ways of working.

Technology has disrupted traditional media models. Revenues are shrinking. Audience consumption habits are changing, with younger generations even drifting away from the traditional sources their parents grew up with and trusted. So we no longer have the luxury of waiting, because they will not wait for us.

I’ve spent more than two decades in this profession, with most of my time at the BBC. I’ve worked as a news producer, editor, and regional head of journalism. I’ve watched the industry shift from linear broadcasting to digital and now to AI. Through it all, one thing has stood out: newsrooms willing to experiment stay relevant. Those that resist disruption lose ground, often scrambling too late to catch up.

Africa’s Challenge, Africa’s Opportunity

While this is a global challenge, we face extra layers of complexity in Africa. Many of our media outlets are often left out of international innovation conversations. We sometimes copy and paste strategies that work in London or New York, but they rarely fit our local social and economic realities.

The reality is that the AI revolution is already upon us, before many newsrooms have even caught up with the last wave of digital change.

But alongside these struggles, I keep seeing some positive glimpses, new formats and innovations in some newsrooms that are working.

Why The Journovator

That’s what The Journovator is about.

It’s here to:

Inform: track the trends, tools, and shifts reshaping journalism through an African lens.

Inspire: highlight bold ideas and the people driving them.

Innovate: offer practical insights and resources to help you and your newsroom adapt.

AI is one of the most consequential stories of our time, so we will also explore its impact across Africa.

The Journovator is a space for reflection and experimentation. It is a movement for those who believe journalism can and must thrive in the digital age.

Please accept this as a personal invitation, particularly if you’re a student questioning whether to stay in journalism, an editor trying to figure out how to reach elusive audiences, a media leader navigating budget cuts, or an academic researching the media on the continent. The Journovator is your space.

Let’s figure this out together. Subscribe. Please share it with your networks. And yes—become a Journovator.

One Newsroom, Five Brands, 200 Journalists

Inside Media Trust's AI-powered experiment to end newsroom silos in Nigeria.

Innovation in Action takes you inside newsrooms, trying new things. Each feature shows you their experiments with AI and new approaches, the tools they picked, the people making it happen, and the honest results. The wins, the failures, the lessons worth stealing. The aim is to give you the confidence to try something new in your own newsroom.

In this edition, we speak to Ibrahim Shehu from Media Trust Group in Nigeria.

Ibrahim Shehu Adamu is running one of Nigeria's boldest editorial experiments. As Editorial Director at Media Trust Group, he's leading the establishment of what may be the country's first truly converged newsroom—a single editorial system uniting five distinct brands: Daily Trust, Trust TV, Trust Radio, Aminiya Hausa, and Digital Trust. More than 200 journalists across Nigeria now work through it.

The backbone is a custom-built content management system developed and tailored specifically for Media Trust. “We were producing excellent journalism across multiple platforms: print, TV, radio, online - but in silos,” Ibrahim recalls. “This duplication wasted resources and slowed us down. We needed a system that would unify workflows, improve efficiency, and create multiple revenue opportunities from the same content.”

What he's built might be the future of Nigerian newsrooms. He explained to me how it works and the difference it’s already making.

How the system actually works

The Content Management System (CMS) weaves artificial intelligence into daily editorial workflows. Journalists file their stories into the system as usual, but from there, the process changes. The system suggests headlines, runs grammar and style checks, and instantly adapts copy for both English and Hausa using a tool called Trellis. Radar and Echo desks then repackage material for social or video, while editors oversee and approve. Once approved by editors, the content is published seamlessly across all platforms.

Take a breaking news story from Abuja. In the old system, that story would be written separately for Daily Trust's print edition, rewritten for the website, adapted again for TV, and possibly translated into Hausa for Aminiya. Today, one journalist files it once, and the system does the rest.

“It’s a co-pilot,” Ibrahim says, careful to stress that machines don’t replace human judgment. “The best use is when journalists use AI as a co-pilot, not a substitute.”

Behind the scenes, the system also tags metadata for SEO and archiving, and provides real-time dashboards showing editors and the sales team what's working and what's not.

But technology alone wasn’t enough. Making it work meant building trust in the system, and that required putting editorial guardrails in place from day one.

Editorial controls by design

“Unlike off-the-shelf tools, this was built around our specific needs,” Ibrahim explains. “The team trained the system on Media Trust’s editorial manual and years of archived content to preserve our house style. All AI outputs appear as suggestions, not final copy. Nothing gets published without human editorial approval. Data security and privacy are also built in.”

That level of control helped ease fears in a newsroom that was initially deeply skeptical of automation.

Winning over a cautious team

Not everyone welcomed it at first. “Yes, there was resistance,” Ibrahim admits. “Some colleagues feared AI would replace them. However, during pilot phases, we demonstrated that the CMS is only capable of handling repetitive tasks, such as translations, metadata, and SEO. The heart of journalism remained unchanged: reporting, judgment, and context. After the pilots, adoption improved,” Ibrahim notes.

Faster, broader, deeper

The change has been significant. Social posts are ready within five minutes of filing. Stories are tailored quickly for TV, radio, print, and digital. Overall, production workflows are 20 to 25 percent faster. Around 40 percent more stories are now optimised for search and social, which has helped increase ad revenue. And he says crucially, reporters now have more time for deeper investigations.

Unexpected gains

There have also been some unexpected gains. The system’s ability to automatically tag archives has opened up the possibility of licensing and monetising historical content, which is a new revenue stream few had even considered. “That was an unexpected benefit,” Ibrahim says. Perhaps more significant is a cultural shift that's harder to quantify. Journalists are starting to think about audience and revenue as they write, and not after publication, but during the reporting process itself. It's a quiet change, but one that could reshape how the newsroom operates long-term.

Where AI still falls short

The system isn’t perfect. Real-time Hausa translation occasionally mangles idioms. Integration with ad-sales tools remains incomplete. Personalisation for readers still needs work.

“We still rely on journalists for context-heavy analysis, political nuance, and ethical decisions—especially in conflict reporting,” Ibrahim says. “And for investigative stories, human instinct is irreplaceable.”

What’s next?

Ibrahim is clear about where this is heading. Within a year, he wants digital revenue to account for 30-35 percent of the group’s income. Plans include launching a freemium model inside the CMS, and monetising fully tagged archives, as well as experimenting with audience engagement tools — from quizzes and polls to niche communities around farming or halal living. Beyond Media Trust, Ibrahim sees potential to license the system to smaller newsrooms across Nigeria and West Africa, either as a paid product or through a consortium model where costs are shared.

What smaller newsrooms need to start

Could a smaller newsroom afford something like this?

“Yes, but they’d probably need a scaled-down version,” Ibrahim says. “They could start with tools like Grammarly, Trellis, and a lightweight CMS. They may not need archive licensing at scale, but they can still automate SEO and translation.” The basics that save the most time.

The minimum team? An engineer and a product manager who understand both AI and editorial needs. Add licenses for Grammarly and Trellis, a scalable CMS, and basic metadata tools. With that setup, you can expect a six- to nine-month timeframe to get it running.

Advice for newsroom leaders

What would he say to editors still on the fence about AI?

His advice for other newsroom leaders is practical and straightforward. “Start with your editorial manual as the foundation. Don’t automate everything. Keep human checkpoints. And for sustainability, think beyond publishing: build tools that also support audience data, archives, and sales.”

For Ibrahim, technology matters, but it's not the point. The point is keeping Nigerian journalism relevant, sustainable, and impactful.

"We needed to stop duplicating effort and start working smarter," he says. "Now we can focus our energy on producing the journalism that actually matters"

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We work with media organisations to turn big ideas into real impact — integrating AI, navigating digital shifts, and rethinking editorial strategy for the future. Curious about what that could look like for you? Let’s connect. Send me an email.