Recently, the Goethe Institut organised a five-day online journalism workshop for journalists from different media across the country. The Head of New Media Lab School of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa, Jude Mathurine who anchored the training session in this interview with PAUL ARHEWE, throws more light on grey areas affecting online journalism. Excerpt:
What is online journalism about?
Online journalism can be considered as journalism that tows the fourth link of the media tool. One media tool is radio, the second is television, third is print with fourth link being online. Online journalism affects others, the print media, radio and television. It means that, whether you are a television station, radio station or a newspaper, you need to have an effective online journalism strategy. Reason for this, is that, the web is a space where information is being shared and disseminated, it is a space where information can be stored and accessed, and also where news organisations can easily communicate with their audience. Consequently, online journalism allows for a lot more potential arguably than other journalism, which allows for a great level of interactions; it allows for more dynamic contents in the form of pictures, videos, sounds, database materials, animation contents and it is a great space for young people because it is a lot more interactive and dynamic. So, you certainly find young people in the western world ignoring the use of analogue media like radio and TV, and creating more time on online and internet activities like social networking. In Nigeria, you have 10 percent internet penetration, and about 70 percent mobile penetration; such a huge segment of Nigerian population is on the mobile. This will give access to your contents, unlike the radio and TV medium. Online journalism has huge potential for Nigeria and the Nigerian audience.
What happens when company policy is not compactable with staff online activities?
There are two problems that relate to policies when it comes to digital online journalism. The first problem is the existence of bad policy; the second is the lack of policy. Example of bad policy is a situation where a company that can afford it and have the resources but fails to provide internet based access and training for their journalists. Consequently, as the result of not providing access to internet or access to particular websites, they cannot develop the skills to make certain kind of content they write in the platform they work on. The other is a case, where there is no policy. In other words, because online and social networking tools are somehow new, news organisations might not necessarily have a particular policy in place. For example, if journalists do blog, how should they blog best? Consequently, what happens in the absence of good policy is that journalists do not know how they are expected to behave appropriately. They might run afoul of a particular idea that isn’t written or recorded anywhere. For example, many newspapers in South Africa don’t have social media policy or online policy.
What is your advice for a media organisation with bad policy regarding online journalism?
First, news organisations need to get online. Secondly, while they are getting their journalists online, they should be able to meet journalists and media freedom organisations that will help them draw effective policy to allow journalists express themselves as citizens and bloggers online and also to produce a set of guidelines that will protect these news organisations.
How can journalists protect themselves and avoid incurring wrath of their organisations?
When in doubt, leave out. If you think you are going to cause a problem, check and if you think posting information would cause a problem and make your management to suffer, do not do it. If you are using blog don’t abuse its usage.
What relevance does workshop of this nature have for journalists in this generation?
Nigeria online journalism is still in its fledgling stage. From what I have seen, there are some good websites with some fantastic work. There are also websites that look like they were established in 1995. These organisations need to fully take advantage of the potentials of online tools. Consequently, what I’m here to do is to put the new generation of journalists both young and old through understanding how online journalism can work and how to increase membership, by looking at various skills like micro blogging, online writing and editing and online contents promotions. These are fundamental skills for understanding the basis for effective publishing on online platforms. Journalists in this workshop learnt how to tweet, and also about new media and more. They learnt about online writing and blogging and consequently, have set up their own blogs.
How frequent do you travel to deliver such trainings?
I work full time for the School of Journalism for Media Studies that means, I would be lecturing most of the year. Only during my vacation period; very often in June or November and December do I have the opportunity to travel. Moreover, I do travel to deliver lectures during Highway Africa which is the continent’s biggest gathering of African journalists held usually in September of every year. Then, I have the opportunity to move around. But there are many experts and people who can lecture and train in online journalism writing, reporting and the new media in this country. We need to take advantage of those people and bring them into trainings schedules as well, because they understand not only the skills but also the contents.
Is there a syllabus for training journalists or are they tailored to meet local needs?
The study packs for online journalism are usually generic. The approach is to try to get group of people specifically to learn the skills they need and have them tailored from country to country and place to place. At this workshop, I was told to involve about 20 dedicated persons who stayed on and worked odd hours to put in all they can within the last seven days. What I try to do is to contextualise the lecture, so that I could give local examples as much as possible. I try as much to give African examples as I can only teach based on my experience.
With return of democracy in Nigeria, how can online journalism assist in building good governance?
Most countries in the world have some form of constitutional arrangements dealing with freedom of expression and media freedom. Media freedom is generally taken to belong to a particular kind of social establishment; maybe community media and big company. The big media companies in previous age would be the ones that have the resources and technology to be able to produce and disseminate messages in the print, to broadcast to the people. This is an expensive job. Consequently, what has happened in the last 20 years, is with technology the cost of information dropped and a lot of good cheap consumer technology in audio recording, cell phones, video recording, sound and photographs are now available to people who are able to practice freedom of expression by capturing materials that are useful to them and disseminating them by making them available online. The significance of this to online journalism is that establishments need to make media use online tools to collaborate with ordinary citizens in telling the tales about what is happening in their democracies, in joining with citizens to help them expose corruption where they exist. In other words, the established media corporations need to work hand in gloves with citizens who now have the tools to enable them gather this information in order to tell a story. So, the Information system which used to be one way in big media has now become broader. We now have citizen journalists who produce information and the media need to work with them. That would make them part of the media space in the next decade in Nigeria.
Source: National Mirror.
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