3MG Media recently launched Zimbabwe’s first ever Citizenship Journalism Program. Research has shown that Citizenship Journalism (CJ) helps achieve a healthier, better informed society and makes Governments more accountable to the people they purport to represent. As a Democracy develops CJ helps to create a level playing field in news coverage resulting in a more progressive and vibrant society.
The idea behind citizen journalism is to encourage people without professional journalism training to use the tools of modern technology (cameras, cell phones, laptops, internet etc) and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others.
Zimbabwe has witnessed recent events which would have been more accurately covered and documented by CJ. These include the Murambatsvina clean up, the cholera outbreak, Marange diamonds rush ,political violence and several other newsworthy events which required narration as seen by those who lived through such times.
The main aim of CJ is to bridge the gap between the traditional mainstream media and ordinary people’s stories by enabling members of civil society to gain access to a broader media skills and platforms and use them effectively to express their voices.
CJ Program offers communities and opportunity to tell their story according to how they view issues. This can be a critical tool in raising awareness and mobilizing resources for issues such as AIDS, Shortage of school books ,lack of computers in schools and any other issues which most communities in developing nations grapple with on a daily basis. Many communities remain poor despite their areas being home to resources such as wild life ,diamond reserves and many other natural resources. CJ can be a vehicle to raise awareness on how these societies can benefit from these natural God given resources.
CJ is also called public or participatory journalism or democratic journalism, is the act of non-professionals "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information,".This is exciting particularly for a nation in transition like Zimbabwe. It will give Zimbabweans an opportunity to interact and participate in information and events that shape their daily lives.
CJ are "the people formerly known as the audience," who "were once on the receiving end of a media system that ran one way, in a broadcasting pattern, with high entry fees and a few firms competing to speak very loudly while the rest of the population listened in isolation from one another. Citizen Journalism changes all this, readers will become an integral part of our news gathering efforts.
This is about Citizens speaking about the front line struggles that they face daily which a normal professional Journalist may not find newsworthy.
Many traditional journalists and many Governments view CJ with some skepticism, believing that only trained journalists can understand the exactitude and ethics involved in reporting news. Citizen Journalism seeks to encourage wider community participation therefore it must be encouraged and nurtured.
This article appears courtesy of GMRI CAPITAL- http://www.gmricapital.com/
Gilbert Muponda is a Co-Founder of 3MG Media . He can be reached at; www.ZimFace.com
Email: gilbert@gilbertmuponda.com . Skype ID: gilbert.Muponda
Twitter ; http://twitter.com/gmricapital
Phone: 1-416-841-5542
No comments:
Post a Comment