Participation in the CJA Training of Trainers workshop, Dares salaam

During day one of the Citizen Journalism in Africa training of trainers workshop we were given an introduction about the Citizen in Africa project and the concept of citizen Journalism. I learnt the difference between a professional Journalist and a citizen Journalist.

While a professional Journalist strives to to follow the ethical code of objectivity; strives to be factual and fair and also tries to be neutral while reporting, a citizen Journalist is not usually neutral; expresses her/his opinion while reporting.

Constitution and legal provisions in each country were discussed and we identified risks and obstacles that we are likely to face as citizen journalists. In Uganda some of the risks include:
the fact that Citizen Journalism is not recognized and only degree holders can be registered as journalists. The government is sometimes quick to use repressive means on journalists. There is hence need to create awareness about the concept of Citizen Journalism among the general public, professional journalists and policy makers and to advocate for creation of an ethical code for citizen journalists.

Provisions that can be used to protect oneself include the constitution, that provides for freedom of speech and expression and access to information and records form the state; the Access to Information Act, and the Uganda National ICT policy Framework of 2002 that gives provision for development of community media.

We were introduced to online and web2.0 tools including blogging, google reader, tagging using delicious and RSS. It was such a fruitful day! I learnt a lot.