News / National
Media Centre Embarks on Citizen Journalism Training Workshops
02 Mar 2018 at 21:22hrs | Views
Media Centre today conducted a refresher training workshop for citizen journalism in the historic province of Masvingo which was focusing on equipping citizen journalist with the information they need in news gathering and reporting towards the election period.
Speaking to Mr Stanford Nyatsanza, the assistant programs officer at Media Centre in Harare this afternoon, this reporter gathered that the training workshops are focusing on schooling citizen journalists operating in marginalized communities.
"The citizen journalism workshop is aimed at imparting skills in citizen journalists to engage in monitoring the electoral environment for purposes of effective citizen reportage on elections", said Mr Nyatsanza. He also dismissed allegations that these refresher training courses are selective as false saying that these are only speculations bent on tarnishing the image of the organisation.
"The workshops are all-encompassing. They are aimed at all Media Centre-linked citizen journalists across all the country's provinces," added Nyatsanza.
Nyatsanza further alluded that electoral coverage in the form of media output would be increased because of training workshops like these.
"We are most likely to have more stories that are going to be developed and published aimed at electoral matters as we head towards 2018 harmonized elections. The workshops are mainly targeted at reporting electoral matters from a citizen's perspective." Nyatsanza added.
The move by the Media Centre has however been met with mixed feelings by some members of the media fraternity who have rubbished citizen journalism as an unethical way of practicing journalism.
Speaking to journalists in the capital this afternoon, this reporter gathered that most journalists were skeptical about how citizen journalists operate.
Jeff Moyo slammed the model of citizen journalism saying it is not journalism at all.
"Citizen Journalism should not be described as journalism at all. Journalists pick stories and report on those stories ethically. Citizen journalists just pick on anything and post it on social media. We cannot really rely on citizen journalism."
Lucy Yassini, a seasoned journalist who has been in the field for over two decades said that citizen journalism should only be there to sniff out stories and alert the qualified journalist to do their job.
"The only way they (citizen Journalists) can be of assistance is raising awareness that there are issues. But the real journalism is for the journalist to find out whether it is fact or fake news.
"Journalist are taught to be ethical and when to post certain information." she added.
Yassini also stressed out that Citizen Journalists are there to stay and needed to be properly trained before they ventured into the industry.
"They are there and they are there to stay,
"They (Media Centre) should come up with mechanisms of reprimanding those who are doing their citizen journalism in an unethical way." she said.
Speaking to Mr Stanford Nyatsanza, the assistant programs officer at Media Centre in Harare this afternoon, this reporter gathered that the training workshops are focusing on schooling citizen journalists operating in marginalized communities.
"The citizen journalism workshop is aimed at imparting skills in citizen journalists to engage in monitoring the electoral environment for purposes of effective citizen reportage on elections", said Mr Nyatsanza. He also dismissed allegations that these refresher training courses are selective as false saying that these are only speculations bent on tarnishing the image of the organisation.
"The workshops are all-encompassing. They are aimed at all Media Centre-linked citizen journalists across all the country's provinces," added Nyatsanza.
Nyatsanza further alluded that electoral coverage in the form of media output would be increased because of training workshops like these.
"We are most likely to have more stories that are going to be developed and published aimed at electoral matters as we head towards 2018 harmonized elections. The workshops are mainly targeted at reporting electoral matters from a citizen's perspective." Nyatsanza added.
The move by the Media Centre has however been met with mixed feelings by some members of the media fraternity who have rubbished citizen journalism as an unethical way of practicing journalism.
Speaking to journalists in the capital this afternoon, this reporter gathered that most journalists were skeptical about how citizen journalists operate.
"Citizen Journalism should not be described as journalism at all. Journalists pick stories and report on those stories ethically. Citizen journalists just pick on anything and post it on social media. We cannot really rely on citizen journalism."
Lucy Yassini, a seasoned journalist who has been in the field for over two decades said that citizen journalism should only be there to sniff out stories and alert the qualified journalist to do their job.
"The only way they (citizen Journalists) can be of assistance is raising awareness that there are issues. But the real journalism is for the journalist to find out whether it is fact or fake news.
"Journalist are taught to be ethical and when to post certain information." she added.
Yassini also stressed out that Citizen Journalists are there to stay and needed to be properly trained before they ventured into the industry.
"They are there and they are there to stay,
"They (Media Centre) should come up with mechanisms of reprimanding those who are doing their citizen journalism in an unethical way." she said.
Source - Collins Chirinda
