This year ARISE NEWS celebrates its 13th birthday. DMA Media has been working with the pan-African and global network since before its launch on January 31st, 2013. We've supported it with live news and feature show production, as well as special programming and technical expertise, and staff training in Lagos, London and Abuja.
We've seen it grow to become the award-winning global platform that it is today.
Down the years I've personally witnessed the leaps forward in terms of production quality and journalistic standards. Through thick and thin, it's been a long and enduring friendship.
ARISE NEWS now broadcasts 24 hours a day from its studios in Lagos, Abuja, Johannesburg, Cape Town, London and New York, and it can be seen in the US, Europe, all over Africa, and the Middle East.
'Human Responsilbity First'
Recently I've been back in Lagos and Abuja - the locations for ARISE's main production and editorial hubs - to support the broadcast team with training sessions, plus an assessment of the channel's editorial guidelines.
In the age of AI, all news outlets need to reassess whether their guidelines are fit for purpose. Like most editorial execs, I strongly believe in a 'Human Responsibility First' approach. All journalists, editors, and producers must remain fully accountable for editorial decisions. The last eyes on anything we put out should be human eyes, as I hear myself repeating to junior and senior staff.
AI can be of great help to newsrooms in terms of workflow, research, transcription and translation. But there's a need for transparency. When AI plays a role in content creation, this should be acknowledged clearly to audiences. The bond of trust must be protected.
13 years on since the launch of ARISE NEWS, the world of journalism has radically changed. But we know the core principles remain - there is simply no substitute for editorial experience (and a bit of common sense).
Rob Beynon, CEO, DMA Media (Lagos - June 2026).