Citizen Journalism in Africa training arrives in Zambia (Day Two)

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA - Today (Day Two) of this HIVOS Citizen Journalism in Africa training workshop saw us review how the media works (i.e. what's newsworthy, who are the news gatekeepers, etc) and what specific techniques can be used to "make" news.

Both topics sparked a lively debate among the 25 participants in the training.

I found the discussion on the Zambian journalist environment most enlighting. Differing opinions on whether journalism in Zambia is a business sparked alot of debate. I personally agree with the camp that believes journalists are only out for themselves and to many as much kwacha as possible for reporting your side of the story. Most young Zambian journalist need a refresher course in media ethics.

After tea break, we took an indepth look at Web 2.0 and all of the various websites that are pushing the Internet into a new realm. Sites like Facebook, Google and Flickr have really driven home the idea of social networking and online communities. It will be facinating to see how this technology changes Zambian culture and news sharing in the future.

In the afternoon, the trainer, Matthew de Gale, exposed the participants to the various elements of recording audio. Each organization was provided with a Panasonic voice recorder. We spent a greater part of the afternoon fooling around with the gadget collecting people's voices. It's always strange to hear one's voice either on tape or on video. It's quite surreal and in my case annoying. I have a horrible voice. But when it comes to my work here in Zambia collecting voices and in a sense stories is vitally important. As a citizen journalist and land activist documenting physical proof of land administration abuse is vital to our advocacy efforts. It's important to let the people who are directly effected tell the story.

At the close of the day, we had a crash course on turning our recorded sound files into mp3's. This will come in handy on Thursday when we attempt to make podcasts. Looking forward to it.

All for now. Cheers.