#MyZimbabwe Campaign should respect citizen journalism

Information dissemination by any quarter is very vital to anyone afar. Such a trend needs to be respected and adhered to by some democratic forces in the country. It is wrong and uncalled for, for those currently carrying out demonstrations against government especially the #MyZimbabwe Campaign to destroy ordinary individuals' valuable possessions for the sake of making sure that their goals and objectives are fulfilled.

#MyZimbabwe Campaign should be aware that Citizen Journalism is the dissemination of information by people who are not professional journalists but who work tirelessly to make sure that the information they send reach wide audiences and readership. It is quite known that Citizens reporters do not do this kind of journalism because it is their job, but because of the way they want to improve society. They want to disseminate any information they get to other areas and places as quickly as possible. They use their smart phones in disseminating such information and harassing such people by unruly hooligans of society is uncalled for.

Citizen journalists use their source of income to buy their valued possessions in form of tablets, smart phones and other communications gadgets like laptops as a means to make sure that information reaches wide coverage. Zimbabweans, young and old should be aware that the development of information and communication technologies, especially the internet, has led to the emergence of citizen journalism, which means the active role of citizens in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news and information. Only organisations like #Mu Zimbabwe campaign feel threatened by the presence of those citizen journalists. The fact that they report and send information as they happen makes them the target of those bent on diverting from real demonstrations into hooliganisms.

All citizens create and distribute information with the help of mobile phones, the internet, I-pod, computer, etc. It is a fact that with the advent of technology, citizen journalism is universally accessible and globally relevant and it becomes an important part of the content within the traditional media both public and commercial. It has become an important corrections of official sources of information as it helps to create a real and objective view of the world.

In a way it improves journalism as people get to contribute and share what they see as important and have the opportunity to share it across so many public media platforms by the touch of a button and reach a wide audience. The events captured by citizen journalist can be shared on Facebook, YouTube and twitter and before you know it, the message has been received by millions. This form of journalism is quickly becoming an evolution of how we keep up to date with what is going on in the world. Surprising the opposition political parties appendages see things differently. They see citizen journalism as an enemy to their desire of keeping on with their hooliganisms in the country.

So it boggles the mind to hear that the organisers of the #MyZimbabwe Campaign were on the rampage on 24 August 2016 in the Central Business District (CBD) of Harare where they destroyed gadgets associated with information dissemination. It was reported that some individuals who were seen taking pictures and recording videos of what was happening in town had their smart phones grabbed and destroyed by those unruly organisers of the #MyZimbabwe Campaign. Protestors were confiscating and smashing all smart-phones which were used to take photographs as well as videos of the proceedings of the street protests. The owners were beaten by the mob instantly. This was a strategy of destroying possible evidence which could be used by authorities to identify them for justice to be administered accordingly. In contemporary times citizen journalists are circulating such videos on various social media platforms.

A Huawei shop known for selling communication gadgets at corner Speke Avenue and Leopold Takawira Road was targeted and broken in by those members of the #MyZimbabwe campaign with cell phones and tablets worth thousands of dollars looted. Such a move by those organisers of that demonstrations showed that they were working against the survival and success of citizen journalism in the country. They did forget that for their demonstrations to take place it was through the use of the social media which made it easy to circulate what they preferred for their audiences to hear and action. Actually citizen journalism was at play when information dissemination of the #MyZimbabwe Campaign was planned and launched. For that reason working to destroy the very organ which gave prominence to the #MyZimbabwe Campaign launch shows lack of directions and reasoning by those MDC-T aligned appendages.

The CBD in the capital city, Harare was turned into a no go area by the #MyZimbabwe Campaign to anyone taking pictures and recording videos of whatever that was taking place there on 24 August 2016. Actually the objectives and goals of citizen journalists were hindered by those organisers of such demonstrations. It is surprising that the sponsors of the #MyZimbabwe campaign, the MDC-T party failed to denounce the unruly behaviour by their youths choosing to take a back seat. The MDC-T leadership and top management have been on record preaching for democracy to prevail in the country so their silence over what happened on that day in which ordinary people's wares and properties were destroyed by this #MyZimbabwe Youths surprises everyone.

Do the MDC-T really believes that some destructions of property and forcing innocent people to join their cause through demonstrations would bring power to their doorsteps? This is a traverse of democracy indeed.

While demonstration is every one's right and the new constitution is in support of that but it is not a right for the organisers of such demonstrations to coerce others to join them. The destructions of property and burning of vehicles during demonstrations defeat the whole essence of holding such demonstrations. Some demonstrators should be clear on what they real want to achieve because once demonstrations become violent there could be catastrophic consequences as the police's response cannot tolerate violent behaviours and it is associated with danger to the demonstrators and innocent citizens who could be court unaware.