NSJ Online Journalism Workshop

TELLING IT LIKE IT IS: In the foreground Christeter, Larrey and Grey.

• Online revolutionises news gathering
• Represents more challenging and accurate reporting
• Reading habits could be affected
• Deadlines will cease to exist
• Endorses specialised reporting

Online revolutionises news gathering

Online journalism could soon revolutionise news gathering as the world knows it. The observation comes from a two week workshop organized by Nordic SADC journalism Training (NSJ) where journalists, trainers and Information Technology fanatics alike, gathered to fuse the three expertise.

“The world is becoming digital. Communication has taken on the form of blogging, online news reports and multimedia story coverage changing the status quo of established journalism. Where the field once followed the ‘journalist tells the world what’s what’ format, it is now the world sharing with the journalist what they know about handing the journalist first hand information,” said Crosbey Mwanza, a training consultant for international rural reporting.

Represents more challenging and accurate reporting

For many this may means the end of traditional journalism as society knows it but to most of those attending the workshop this change represents a more challenging and accurate way of bringing the world to the world.

“The one result that online communication can bring on is improved quality in news. If one is to post a story he or she has to have the skills needed to not only write and edit a story but upload and present it in a reader friendly manner too. This means becoming multi-skilled as a story can longer connect with its recipient without imagery, text and sound,” said Zambia’s Communications Trainer Christeter Macha.

As with all change something will be affected and Grey Maganda a journalism trainer and lecturer at the University of Malawi’s Polytechnic seems to think so.

Reading habits could be affected

“Reading habits could be affected. Having news so thoroughly presented would be like giving out material that is already chewed. All they need to do is to swallow. Writing by non experts versus experts could be a problem but the dominating factor here is that public views are going to be taken into account more,” he says.

One challenge that the workshop foresees is that online reporting could mean that news is no longer what it was and many could miss out as the third world is perceived to be a long way from full blown technological literacy, but with some countries on the African continent registering close to a million cell phone users news is likely to start reaching everyone in small bytes in no time.

“This is how it was with newspapers. It started with only the elite being able to acquire and read the goings on in the world. They were literate and could spend. Now everyone reads the news. What is to stop everyone from logging on for it?” says Larrey Chetty Head of a radio station in the Seychelles.

Deadlines will cease to exist

With the global mobile evolution nothing can and news delivery does indeed face a revamp. Deadlines will cease to exist as it is the most updated site that will gain audience interest and source protection might be a thing of the past as they reveal themselves to the world before the journalism can shape their view into an article. Putting some out of a job some might think.

“We have agreed, online reporting will means that journalists need to be more alert. It will mean advanced scoops the second you get it the second it has to be out there. Multi tasking. Be able to take a photo, write the text, compile it in a reader friendly matter, narrate it through video or voice over if you must but get it done right,” says Ole Rodejesen Associate Professor at the University of Denmark and trainer at the work shop.

Endorses specialised reporting

“With readers and sources able to bring their views across as they see fit a writer simply needs to be specific when it comes to his story content and be able to source experts who will be the seams to his story so that there are no gaps in what he is saying. People might find him or her incompetent is he does not”.

Attending the workshop to master the ‘online’ concept all thirteen participants are ready to learn, share and develop the new millennium version of fact finding and with just a click the rest of the globe will too.