Global Media: Enhancing journalism in Africa with new media tools [opinion]

The introduction of new media has challenged the traditional form of journalism in Africa; as global emphasis shifts to online real time reportage of events. Today, news is delivered in a unique way, combining audio and visual in such a way that its impact can never be over-emphasised. If the recent saga in Nigeria involving the kidnap of some journalists had happened in Europe, the whole world would have had the opportunity to have a firsthand insight into the kidnappers den as, with a mobile phone, the journalists would have recorded their ordeal and downloaded it on You Tube.

Not too long ago, a luxury bus was attacked by armed robbers. Passengers who had nothing to part with were made to lie on the highway and another truck ran over them. The police denied the incident. But a few days later, pictures of the horror-striking site appeared on You Tube.

 

Last June, members of the Nigerian House of Representatives engaged themselves in a free-for-all fight. Within minutes, clips of the fight appeared on Facebook and this generated a debate across the globe on the quality of representation we have.

 

The new media has silently but steadily become a force to be reckoned with in today’s world. But the question remains: what percentage of African journalists and editors are conversant with it? The answer is shocking.

 

Josiah Akor, a journalist with a newspaper in Abuja, is not aware of what new media is. For him, Facebook or Twitter is an avenue to link up with friends, schoolmates and make new friends. He has never contemplated using any of these tools to report news or engage readers. Just like Akor, Vivian Mensah with a private radio station in Ghana, has never heard of Twitter; but she is on Facebook and uses it to connect friends and family. Ms Mensah says Facebook is a social network platform and shouldn’t be mixed with work.

 

“Facebook is for connecting with colleagues, keep abreast with daily gossip, using it for news reporting to me is not proper and should not be encouraged,” she says.

 

In Zambia, journalists are of the view that access to the Internet is expensive while connection is slow. Opening sites such as Facebook, that have pictures, takes several hours; so they usually avoid such sites.

 

Violet Mengo, a science correspondent with Zambia Daily, one of the national newspapers in Lusaka, said she is aware of only one journalist in the country who is into blogging, while few others actually use skype and Facebook.

 

In Zimbabwe, new media was made popular among freelance journalists, as a result of the crackdown on the mainstream media by the government, but access to the Internet is restricting its usage.

 

Yet, in Africa, the need for deploying these tools for instantaneous news coverage has never been felt like now. Think about covering police brutality, which is a daily occurrence on our streets, accidents on the pothole ravaged roads or abuse of privileges by elected leaders. With these tools, a journalist can operate without fear of being manhandled.

 

In war-torn Sudan or Somalia, how best do you equip a reporter than by giving him the basic lesson on how to use the tools? Jack Hamidu, a military photographer covering the crisis in Sudan, says if half of what happens in the areas were made known to the world through the Internet, efforts to mobilise troops for peacekeeping will no longer be taken for granted.

 

Tools are available

 

The technology to back the new media tools is available. Recent statistics from the International Telecommunication Union says nearly two billion additional mobile telephone connections were recorded across the world between 2006 and last year, the vast majority of them in developing countries.

 

In many developing countries, more than half of rural households now have a mobile phone, while access to the Internet is also on the increase. Already, leading global news networks replay clips of non-professional eyewitness account of events taken from either You Tube or Twitter.

 

Newspapers in Nigeria are far behind, asking readers to send their pictures or news stories to them.

 

Peter Croll, director of the Bonn International Centre for Conversion, said recently: “we live in turbulent times. New interactive technologies for information exchange are rapidly transforming the traditional media landscape in many parts of the world.” Twitter is gaining currency among the populace and is ranked number five among the social networking platforms in overall minute spent by users, according to Jack Brown, a South African based IT consultant.

 

“One gets content while it happens, which is a major boost for reporters,” he said.

 

Brown said it is easier for journalists in one environment to follow developments in another location and get instantaneous quotes and interview via twitter.

 

Some media houses still acquire camera and digital voice recorders for their staff. A simple training on how to turn their mobile phones into a weapon of professional news reporting is what is needed.

-September 03, 2010 by Alex Abutu

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Source: 234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5614104-146/enhancing_journalism_in_africa_with_new.csp  (accessed on 03.09.10)