Mike Awoyinfa with a copy of World Editors

A book, 50 World Editors, will be launched on Tuesday, 14 September at 10a.m., at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos.

This, according to Mike Awoyinfa, is to mark the anniversary of the death of “my brother and co-author, Dimgba Igwe, killed last year on 6 September while jogging to keep fit on a Saturday morning in his Lagos neighbourhood.”

The 628-page book is a compilation of interviews Awoyinfa and Igwe  had with 50 editors all over the world.

In the interviews, the editors interviewed spoke on journalism trends, their varied experiences  and the high points of their journalism careers.

Among those interviewd in the interesting book are Michael Goodwin of the New York Daily News, Tony Marro, New York Newsday, Chris Cramer, former president of CNN, Jim Clancy, a CNN International Correspondent.

The legendary  Sir Harold Evans, who once edited the Sunday Times in London is also featured in the book. So is Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, also in the United Kingdom.

In Nigeria, the authors spoke with the late Alhaji Babatunde Jose, a newspaper legend and publisher of the old Daily Times. Chief Olusegun Osoba, a former editor of Daily Times, Nduka Obaigbena, Publisher of ThisDay. Dele Olojede, the Pulitzer winning Nigerian journalist and founder of the defunct NEXT newspaper, John Momoh, chairman of Channels TV and Bayo Onanuga, editor-in-chief of TheNEWS group were also interviewed.

Awoyinfa and Dimgba Igwe should have been interviewed in this book themselves as reputable editors and newspaper managers. To their credit, they nursed Nigeria’s highest selling tabloid Weekend Concord,  and also successfully midwifed Nigeria’s The SUN newspaper.