Goodbye 2008

I think this will be my last post this year, though I hope to get one out just before we cross into 2009, this year has been a rather eventful one I must say, it started out horribly to say the least but the latter part of it has been very very productive and satisfying for me.

First I started of writing and contributing to the CPB site, where Curt and I, report and try and document attcks, threats and persecution of bloggers around the world, something which I have come to learn is very prevalent despite what others might think.  In most parts of the world writing a blog post is usually a private matter governed by only your conscience, but in other place it is a life and death issue, bloggers have been killed and others are languishing in jail for very long jail terms.  Yesterday, Curt took a much needed break and I have now been appointed the editor-in-chief of the site, I hope I will be able to follow in his footsteps and even grow the site and our non-profit even bigger.

I also joined WildlifeDirect in September and my insight into conservation has grown amazingly, after a long period of viewing this as something not of my concern getting immersed into conservation projects and helping the conservationists with what I know best, blogging, has been satisfying a lot.  It is important i think that we, starting owning this projects and not thinking that it is for ’some other people’.  We should individually strive to leave this earth better than we found it.

I have had my writings published in a number of sites including The Tomorrows News Tomorrows Journalists Blog, a collective blog of young journalists, Kenyaimagine, an online news portal, AfricanPath, an african news portal and I have also had the pleasure of writing for Al Jazeera, and also an article of mine got published in The Mail & Guardian Newspaper of South Africa.  This has grown my writing portfolio and I hope that next year will bring more of the same.

I am very encouraged with the growth of our internet industry here in Kenya, everyday new material is coming out, new apps are being built, new sites are coming up and blogs are slowly entering the mainstream which to me is absolutely wonderful.  The good thing is that most of this enterprenuers are doing this themselves without waiting for the government to help them out, as it is currently just paying lip service, to the ICT industry. I await bigger things this coming year.

Happy holidays to you and see you soon.

Tech-Phobia in Newsrooms

The technological divide that exists between the classroom/lecture-hall and the newsroom is one of the greatest challenges we face as young journalists.

 

The phenomenon of social and new media seems to be adopted perfunctorily in news rooms, I mean you will find good connectivity, superb hardware but the usage of the social/new media tools is next to nil.

 

In journalism school you get the idea that if you do not get onto the social media train you might as well be waiting for it on the tracks to run you down.  If like me you read Jay Rosen a lot then you be aware of the cuts that traditional news rooms have to undertake.

 

Now the whole disconnect is when you get into the news room, mentions of twitter elicits blank stares, an explanation does worse.  You start to wonder if truly social media is what it is made out to be.  But at the back of you mind you know that it is.

 

You know that the future of newspapers is online but the news room itself does not seem to realize this.  Even with journalists losing jobs daily, the message does not seem to hit home.  Even to the point that displaying tech-phobia is some sort of honor badge among the ‘veterans’.

 

Funny thing is that when you turn in a report fast enough you now get questions of how you did, then unofficially you become the in-house trainer.  It is for this reason that I think things are looking up, that in time we will take our place in this new digital newsroom though it would be better if it happened a bit faster.

 

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This is cross-posted at the Tomorrow’s News, Tomorrow’s Journalists blog 

We need experince!!!!

It’s been a while since I wrote on journalism, seeing as I trained to be a journalist, I have been reading the young journalist blog at journalism.co.uk and I appreciate it for having a place where guys who look at journalism the way I do hang out.

 

I think I’ve wanted to be a journalist for a long while now, after going through the whole law and lawyer-ing phase, I realized that I loved being the one to be the first one out with a story, I love looking for information and I also loved and still do love writing.

 

Fast forward to Uni. where the college though you are study the art of reporting you get to read of newsrooms letting go of staff, implementing the dreaded cost-cutting.  Yeah your articles and stories get published but no one wants to give you a job let alone pay you for your stuff. (though there others who’ll follow up your payment till you get paid) yeah

 

I took a break from Uni. for a year, due to several reasons among them some family stuff,  during this time, I decided to look for a job, and if I managed to get one then I’d do my last semester in the evenings. 

 

In this search I have come to realize that while editors might like you stuff there is also a devil called experience.  That’s what galls me, who in his right mind would expect you to have, two years experience working for a paper when you’ve just graduated from uni. where you were in class full time? and the funny thing here, the university newspaper, blogs and websites don’t count because this are self-publishing platforms.  Some guys forget that they also were once starting out.

 

That’s when I decided to do my own stuff, self-publish, blog like mad, just write, write and write, if a good opportunity comes along yay I’ll take it if it doesn’t then I’ll just continue writing.