‘I Do Not Understand Nigerian Traffic Rules’

Charles Apple is a freelance visual journalist and instructor. A long time news artist and designer, He teaches design and graphics workshops and seminars around and outside U.S.A. He has won numerous awards from the Society for News Design for graphics and graphics reporting. He came to Nigeria last week for a two-week capacity-building programme courtesy of LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group and spoke to BODE GBADEBO about his work and experience, among others. Excerpts:

According to your blog, you spend too much time online as a blogger and also often travel around so teach visual journalism, what is the experience like?
I’ve always enjoyed meeting people and teaching young journalists about newspapers, editing and how to tell stories better with good news design. So in many ways, my transition out of day-to-day newspaper work as seemed natural.
On the other hand, when big news breaks, I find myself missing the challenge of finding a compelling way to display the news.

You specialise in visual journalism, what is it all about??
Visual journalism, simply, is the way you design your newspaper pages and websites. What they look like, how they use photos and typography and so on.

In a broader sense, visual journalism is pretty much all journalism you see with your eyes. Which – for newspapers and websites – means everything, right?

Have you been to Nigeria before now and which other country have you been to teach newspaper graphics and designs?
I’ve taught all over the U.S.A., in England and in the Philippines. I’ve been to South Africa four separate times over the past two-and-a-half years, for a total of about eight months. This is my first time in Nigeria.

Has the concept of visual journalism impacted on newspaper designs around the world?
Absolutely! In much of the world, newspapers sell their papers and entertain, inform and delight their readers with a lovely mixture of pictures, graphics and, yes, stories. Over the years, we’ve become better and better at doing this.?

We even have societies – the Society for News Design and the American Copy Editors Society – that advocate for and reward the best work done in this field.

The very best award, of course, is when a reader reaches in his pocket, pulls out a few Naira and buys today’s paper. That’s the most important award of all.

What are the likely challenges of visual journalism revolution in the print media industry?
In much of the world, the internet industry is overshadowing the print industry. We’re constantly striving for ways to better serve print readers and for ways to give print readers things they simply can’t find online.

You were a reporter cum-art -director in various American newspapers and currently an itinerant graphic instructor, what informed your new found interest?
I’ve always enjoyed teaching in my spare time. In the U.S.A., some of the top-earning managers have found themselves out of work – simply because they made “too much money.” That’s what happened to me. I’ve been very lucky that I’ve managed to find work as an instructor, speaker and consultant.

It’s quite possible that my future lies in teaching university journalism students. In fact, I’m meeting with a college in the U.S. very soon about just such an opportunity. I think I’d be good at it.

You have seen and read various Nigerian newspapers on the streets of Abuja since your arrival, how would you rate them both in content and design?
No offence, but I’ve been impressed with neither the content nor the design. Clearly, Nigerian journalists are working very hard, but you’re just a few years behind most of the rest of the world.

Recently, LEADERSHIP has made some changes to “catch up,” and I’m very impressed with what your paper’s own visual journalists are doing. The hope, obviously, is that my two weeks here will help LEADERSHIP improve the way it takes and uses photos, the way it designs pages and the way it uses other modern visual techniques.
If that happens, then “good luck” to all the other papers in Nigeria!

The Nigerian national legislature recently passed the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act into law, is there any legislation which guarantees unfettered access to information in the U.S. by the media?
“Unfettered access” was guaranteed by the now-famous First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, written back in 1787.? For the most part, that’s been the case in my country for 130 years.

So we in the U.S. already have press freedom. The question is: Can we keep press freedom in this time of terrorism, unrest and tightening of “national security”? Our own national track record isn’t so great right now, even under President Obama.

Since your arrival in Abuja 10 days ago, and besides your mandate here at LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group, what is your experience in Federal Capital Territory against the backdrop of the? capital city being one of the fastest growing capital cities in the world?
I find Abuja wonderful. You have a fabulous city here full of lovely and friendly people.
The good news is that I see so much potential for growth here and so much longing for better lives, better jobs and better salaries. You’ll get there. You’re smart people. Nigerians are not lazy in the least.

The downsides? I’ve been watching my driver as he takes me to work every day. Wow, I can’t figure out how he does it. I’ve been here more than a week and I do not understand Nigerian traffic rules.

This is a beautiful city, though. The mountains and the architecture are world-class. The National Mosque? Wow, what a gorgeous building! That’s a real credit to your people and to the faith of the wonderful folks who designed and built it.

I hope you continue to grow and I hope you continue to pursue tourism here in Abuja. I’d love to come back one day with my wife and daughter.

What do you do in your spare time offline?
I have a wife and a 19-year-old daughter back home in Virginia Beach. On occasion, I manage to find time to spend with them.
Also, I love reading history and collecting “Star Trek” action figures.