Citizen journalism refers to the reporting of news events by members of the public using the Internet to spread the information. It can be a simple reporting of facts and news that is largely ignored by large media companies and easily spread through personal websites, blogs, microblogs, social media and so forth.
Tag A Life International conducted a program where young women and girls were taught extensively how to become an atute citizen journalist.
Running for a period of 4 days, the training being led by veteran journalist Blessed Mhlanga, aimed to teach young women about citizen Journalism, a skill fast taking precedence in this digital global era.
Speaking to Identities Media, the programs manager at TALI, Tariro Masaraure said this training would greatly advance young women empowerement as they are now able to tell stories that affect them from their own personal experiences and perspective.
“There are a lot of things happening in the girls communities and because they are being trained they are now able to capture those issues and make them known and heard”, she said.
“Most news leaves out young girls and women’s experiences but having them sharing from an individual point of view means the community and service providers will understand that when offering services they should be demand and not supply driven”.
With the help of Mr Mhlanga, the young women learnt extensively about the ethics in Journalism, freedom of thought and opinion, the rights one has, plegirism and the overall fundamentals that make a good, ethical and credible journalist.
Being an expert in the field of journalism did not stop Blessed Mhlanga from learning a thing or two from the Tali girls. He was educated of ‘period poverty’ , a crisis many women in Zimbabwe face during their menstrual cycle either physically or financially and he vowed to take it up further as a professional media practitioner.
An excited Nomalanga Kamota said
“My ‘aha’ moment was knowing that you don’t just tell a story, don’t use your emotions. Is what you are saying going to help anybody and whatever you report has to answer the question ‘so what’?”
Tariro Tawodzera who is passionate about leadership said “Now that I have been trained as a citizen journalist, I’m able to write about the young ladies in leadership in colleges and high school who do not pursue it afterwards.
Now I can publish news about young leaders and tag popular people who will then retweet it and it becomes well known”.
Over the years,Tag a Life International Trust (TALI) has made its mark in the development sector as a young women’s rights organization working to advance the rights of girls and young women.It has successfully run programs that have empowered girls across Zimbabwe whilst alos not leaving out men, communities and leaders.
This Citizen journalism training is one example where TaLI lived up to its vision and aim, equipping and empowering young women to be able to write stories according to how they see them.
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