www.pmnewsnigeria.com: PM News Nigeria Newspapers Online

P.M.NEWS
Introduced in August 1994 to satisfy a yearning for a fresh, breezy and entertaining afternoon paper in Lagos and its environs, P.M.News is positioned as a paper for everyone.

We realised that  readers yearn for hot news but have little time to read a bulky publication. So the paper was designed as a small volume (16-page) publication with a strong news orientation. The entire package has the right balance, presenting regular columns on fashions, interviews with notable men and women and vibrant sports and entertainment sections, etc.

P.M.News Friday edition is a weekend package, with a bias for entertainment. It comes out in a 24-page format.

P.M.News circulates an average of 60,000 copies daily in all parts of Lagos metropolis, reaching Ikorodu, Otta and Ibadan.

OUR STORY SO FAR

TheNEWS made its entry into the crowded Nigerian news magazine market on 8 February 1993. Its arrival triggered anxiety within the military junta, then governing Nigeria.

TheNEWS was not just another magazine, it was born to crusade and it had a reputation that even predated its birth.

At the African Concord where most of its founding team departed to found TheNEWS, they had entered the black book of the ruling junta by publishing a story for which the General Ibrahim Babangida administration wanted an apology. The editors resigned their appointments instead of offering an apology. Conceived in the dying days of the Babangida regime, it was inevitable that TheNEWS could also embody some of the challenges of the period, which were the struggle for democracy, free enterprise, transparency and accountability in governance.
The fear that the junta would not allow the magazine to survive became real. Three months after TheNEWS hit the newsstands, security men impounded about 100,000 copies of the magazine at the printing press in Lagos. Then they shut down the offices of the company. But the editors defied all these setbacks and continued to publish the magazine underground. By July the same year, the authorities, not amused by the defiance of the editors, proscribed TheNEWS out of existence.

Apart from that, the editors were all declared wanted by the police.

But TheNEWS editors could not be cowed. Instead, they gave birth to a new publication called TEMPO. As a tabloid, TEMPO was an instant success. It was described as a child of circumstance by the editors when it was published. TEMPO was born as an underground paper and actually kick-started the era of guerrilla journalism in Nigeria.

After the Abacha government was installed in November 1993, TEMPO came out of its trenches. TheNEWS was also unbanned and the publishing company, Independent Communications Network Limited (ICNL) lived a normal life. But the respite was for just a short while as the Abacha regime consolidated its grip on power. As TheNEWS and TEMPO  continued the vigorous and critical reporting of the Abacha administration, the editors and journalists who worked for these publications, sooner became targets of the security agencies. The journalits were put under constant surveillance. Many were arrested and detained. By April 1998, thirteen of our staff including the Managing Editor, Mr. Babafemi Ojudu were locked up in jails across the country. The Executive Editor, Mr. Kunle Ajibade was roped into a phantom coup plot. He was  jailed for life under a charge that was novel in the history of our country. His experience has already been documented in a book entitled Jailed For Life: A Reporter’s Prison Notes.

In 1995, security men in their desperation burnt the offices of TheNEWS in Ikeja. The height of this harassment and repression came in 1998 when members of TheNEWSstaff were arrested and detained by the police. All the offices of TheNEWS and TEMPO were shut down and occupied by the policemen. But there was no killing TheNEWS, TEMPO, P.M.NEWS and all other titles published by the organisation. Respite came for the organisation on 8 June 1998 when Abacha died suddenly and the General Abdusalami Abubakar government took over.

This liberal military government midwifed Nigeria’s  new democracy.

TheNEWS with the slogan defining the present, shaping the future has been repackaged to combine a vigorous and knowledgeable reporting of politics and business. Its primary targets are  the decision makers in business and politics etc. Its authoritative reporting of the arts, health, fashion, environment etc makes TheNEWS a compelling total package every week.

Less than eighteen months after TheNEWS was founded, it shone like a star in the 52-nation Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) when its Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Bayo Onanuga was honoured with the 1994 Lord Astor Award for commitment and exemplary courage to press freedom. It was the first time the award was bestowed on any Nigerian.

Similarly, the magazine’s erstwhile editor, Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi was named the co-winner of the prestigious International Editor of the Year Award in New York U.S.A. Other awards of excellence won by TheNEWS editors and reporters in recognition of the magazine’s investigative reporting and peerless editorials include the inaugural Canadian Journalist Free Expression (CJFE) Award given to the Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Onanuga and the Managing Editor, Mr. Babafemi Ojudu.

TheNEWS also won the international consortium of Investigative Journalists Award in year 2000 in USA. The Victor Nwankwo Book of the Year Award was also won by Mr. Kunle Ajibade.

OUR BRANCHES
Kaduna, Abuja, Jos, Kano, Jalingo, Makurdi, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Uyo, Warri, Benin, Akure, Ibadan