In the broadcast media, we are always alert to competition, market shifts, new technologies, and changing audience habits. We invest in equipment, fine-tune our schedules, and study ratings charts as though the threats are always out there. But the truth is, some of the biggest dangers to a media house come from within its own walls.
An institutional blindside happens when internal problems are ignored until they quietly grow into full-blown crises. In our industry, this often takes the form of staff ignoring directives, resisting change, or cutting corners in the very processes that define quality broadcasting.
And when no action is taken, the message becomes painfully clear: mediocrity is acceptable here.
It starts small — a missed deadline here, a fact-check skipped there, a stale program format left untouched for years.
These lapses rarely make headlines at first. The rot begins quietly, behind the scenes. But the audience is watching. They may not send a letter of complaint, but they will make their judgment in the most decisive way possible — by turning the dial or clicking away.
The consequences extend beyond ratings. When poor practices go unchallenged, they spread like a slow infection through the newsroom. High-performing staff, frustrated by the lack of accountability, either disengage or leave.
Leadership’s credibility takes a hit, and with it the station’s internal discipline. Before long, advertisers notice the numbers and start shifting their budgets elsewhere.
We have seen this play out in once-dominant programs overtaken by smaller, more agile competitors. We have seen newsrooms lose their grip on breaking news because they dismissed the speed and reach of social media until it was too late. In both cases, the market shift was not the real problem — it was an internal failure to adapt, compounded by management’s silence.
In broadcast media, losing a piece of equipment can be recovered from.
Budget cuts can be survived. But once you lose the discipline, urgency, and culture of excellence inside your team, you have already started broadcasting your own decline.
The cure begins with honest leadership. Address the internal issues before they calcify into your culture. Hold staff accountable not to punish, but to protect the standards that keep audiences loyal. Because in this business, if you don’t deal with the blindside inside the house, the audience will deal with you — by leaving.
Ezenwa Opara is a Public Relations and Media Professional
Writes from Lagos
