Pressure of Truth
Exposing the spin on all sides of the news.
Outlet profile

Premium Times

Nigerian independent, investigative-focused, donor-supported

Owned byPremium Times Services Limited, a privately held company based in Abuja. Dapo Olorunyomi is its co-founder and publisher. A separate nonprofit, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), was formerly the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism. It was founded by Olorunyomi and is organizationally distinct from the paper.
FundingAdvertising, subscriptions and reader support, plus grants. Most of the grant money goes to the nonprofit CJID, not the newspaper. Reported CJID funders include the MacArthur Foundation (a reported $1.6 million in 2022), Luminate, the Gates Foundation and Open Society. Foreign foundation funding has drawn criticism from some Nigerian officials and commentators.
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

Premium Times launched in 2011 as an online-only outlet in Abuja, founded by veteran journalists including Dapo Olorunyomi, who had been a prominent press-freedom figure under Nigeria's military rule. In 2014 it set up a nonprofit investigative arm, the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, which was later renamed the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID). The paper built its reputation on investigations of corruption and abuse of power, election coverage and fact-checking. Olorunyomi received a Committee to Protect Journalists International Press Freedom Award in 2020. The outlet has clashed with Nigerian authorities and government figures over its reporting, including disputes with the presidency's media aides. Critics sometimes say it leans toward donor-favored or liberal-reform framings, and its grant funding is a recurring point of contention, though it has no single owner pushing a party line. Media Bias/Fact Check and similar raters generally regard it as credible and moderately center-left in its framing. On the second Trump administration, its coverage is largely practical and Nigeria-centered. It reports on Trump's reply to President Tinubu and the US pledge of support against terrorism, Trump's Country of Particular Concern designation for Nigeria, US diplomatic visits and sanctions, and has run analysis warning of unfavorable effects for Nigeria. Its opinion columns include skeptical pieces about Trump.

Sources

  1. Premium Times - Wikipedia
  2. Premium Times - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check
  3. Dapo Olorunyomi - Committee to Protect Journalists
  4. Innovative Journalism Strengthens Accountability in Nigeria - MacArthur Foundation
  5. ANALYSIS: As Trump assumes office, should Nigeria be worried? - Premium Times
  6. Trump replies Tinubu, pledges US's support in Nigeria's fight against terrorism - Premium Times

Profile compiled 2026-10-21; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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