Citizen journalism as a pathway to democratize the mainstream media in Rwanda (By Dominique NDUHURA, PhD Student/Hallym University)
Contextualizing the practice of citizen journalism
This paper seeks to explore the role that citizen journalism is playing in democratizing the mainstream media in Rwanda. As a country with deep-rooted culture of secrecy, Rwanda has been facing problems as regards access to information. Media practitioners would not reach out to a wide variety of contents and news. With the advent of citizen journalism, contents have increased and diversified, sometimes addressing subjects thus far considered as taboos (Nduhura, 2013).
Citizen journalism appeared by 2000 as a new trend which rose from new media technologies,
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As media institutions got more and more private and involved in competition, they tended to use citizen-generated contents. For example, FM stations have welcomed talk-radio genres where people phone in with comments on a range of political and social issues (Banda, 2010). Citizen journalism is said to have opened up the political space in Africa. This concept works better in combination with radio and has positive effects in as far as for example citizens attend to polling stations during elections and report any rigging of polls to local radio stations (Atarah, …show more content…
Izuba Community Radio is one example where the radio has organized an active network of citizens, a set of ‘107 community reporters’ termed ‘imbonis’ (monitors). These reporters are given intensive trainings on basic journalistic principles which allow them to participate in daily activities of the radio (Kayihura, 2011). The role of citizen journalism in revolutionizing the mainstream media in Rwanda is more or less palpable at least over the last 10 years after the advent of Internet and liberalization of media market in the country. However, the development of citizen journalism is still in its infancy and owes much to the wide adoption of mobile phones. Loopholes surround the practice of this phenomenon. Not all the contents from the audiences are broadcast by most radio stations for mainly two reasons. Either messages overflow in too big numbers and time is never enough to read them all, or some contents are thought not to be ‘constructive’. Therefore, censorship is openly conducted because the ‘radio works in the interest of the government’. Call-in programs are also censored – though with so much discomfort as they are live – when the radio journalists ‘think a caller is about to say unnecessary things’ (Nduhura, 2013). Paucity of research on citizen journalism in Rwanda has therefore prompted the researcher to
When discussing the media, we must search back to its primal state the News Paper. For it was the News paper and its writers that forged ahead and allowed freedoms for today’s journalism on all fronts, from the Twitter accounts to the daily gazettes all must mark a single event in the evolution of media in respects to politics and all things shaping. Moving on in media history, we began to see a rapid expansion around 1990. With more than 50% of all American homes having cable TV access, newspapers in every city and town with major newspaper centers reaching far more than ever before. Then the introduction of the Internet; nothing would ever be the same.
During this essay I will provide a detailed outlook on what I learned during the process of reading the book “Left to Tell” by Immaculee Ilibagiza. Immaculee Ilibagiza, came from a family that valued education. Her family were Tutsi’s, during the genocide she experienced a great ordeal of things that many could never live through, yet she survived. During the reading Immaculee depends on her faith in God to help her through the most difficult situations. I will explore what Immaculee experienced during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, such as violation of human rights, and becoming a refugee. I will then take a look further and discuss the role the media played in contributing the genocide and how this made things worse. Lastly, I will discuss who
Consequently, according to the critics, citizen journalism does not appear to be a straightforward answer to the contemporary 'crises of information', demonstrating complexities that invariably endanger the foundations and legitimacy of the state. Therefore, the contemporary media counter-culture and its take on justice fundamentally violate hegemonic assumptions about crime and its suppression through institutionalised
Radio was used to spread Hutu ideology before and during the genocide. It helped unify the Hutu against the Tutsi. In the film, the Tutsi are called “cockroaches”, “inenzi” and “devils” in a bid to dehumanise them. They are also blamed for everything from whipping to taxes. (Peck, 2005) This shows the active engendering of Tutsi- hatred by Hutu extremists through radio. Why was radio more effective than any other propaganda? (Li, 2004: 12) The answer to this lies in looking at the dominant post-colonial discourse in Rwanda in terms of history,
... small media reforms (like public journalism) will be enough to reduce the commercial and corporate imperatives driving our existing media systems (Hackett and Zhao, 1998, p. 235). Instead, a fundamental reform of the entire system is needed, together with a wider institutional reform of the very structures the media systems work within, our democracies. This will be a difficult task, due to powerful vested interests benefiting from the status quo, including media, political and economic elites. Reforms will need to be driven by campaigns mobilising public support across the political spectrum, to enable the citizens of the world to have a media system that works to strengthen democratic principles as opposed to undermining them. This task is challenging, but it will become easier once people begin to understand the media’s role in policymaking within our democracies.
Kellow, Christine L, and H. Leslie Steeves. "The Role of Radio in the Rwandan Genocide." Journal
But anyone who has any form of camcorder technology including mobile phones can take part in the practice of journalism. It is a practice that more citizens take part in and creates the democratic society that we all ideally look for. This form of journalism focuses more on the relationship between the presenters and how it is received by the audience rather than the theatricals that surround the mainstream news. Mainstream journalism companies have big names that we all know and “trust” which is something a lot of alternative media outlets don’t have. In this sense, Alternative journalism has to work even harder to gain cultural credibility from its audience. They have no reason not to be honest with audiences because that is all they have to be able to gain trust. In “Living in the Sewers of Colombia” the interviews that are conducted are raw footage as this is all filmed in one night and the danger for all the people involved in the documentary is life threatening . It is hard to watch a documentary such as this one and not see it as a credible source of information because of the various situations the reporter places himself in just to get various accounts of how the police and the death squad treat homeless
Naturally, journalism would spill over to the Internet and as social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook grew in popularity, so did regular citizens involvement with sharing news. The argument can be made that the explosion of social media journalism was due to frustration from the lack of coverage of news that mattered to society. For example, the lack of subjective coverage of Michael Brown 's death helped with the creation of #BlackLivesMatter and spread of news related to African-American’s and other minorities across the country. After all, journalism is supposed to be a public forum. Millions of people on Twitter share their thoughts and opinions on several topics, furthering the conversation and to some degree challenging society. Things such as “Moments” on Twitter provide us with direct links and summaries to the world’s most important stories and encourage a conversation. According to journalism.org, 63% of users on Twitter and Facebook get their news from these websites. Even more eye opening is that 59% of users on Twitter keep up to date with news stories via Twitter while they are in the process of happening.[3] The rise of social media related journalism has caused some issues however. “Inevitably, as citizen involvement grows, more of our media culture is concerned with talking about news, instead of focusing on original reporting and the vetting of it.”[4] Because the general public has the ability to post as they wish and pass it off as news, it has affected the accuracy of many reports. Many stories lack reputable sources but are shared between millions as an accurate and true story. There are several websites designed to spread inaccurate information. The website www.fakenewswatch.com exists to inform people of these sites in order to avoid mishaps. Recently a Connecticut mom went viral for being involved in an online hoax
"Journalists and Social Media | The Changing Newsroom." The Changing Newsroom | New Media. Enduring Values. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. .
Paul Grabowicz. "The Transition to Digital Journalism." Print and Broadcast News and the Internet. N.p., 30 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 May 2014.
Thirty years ago, if I told you that the primary means of communicating and disseminating information would be a series of interconnected computer networks you would of thought I was watching Star Trek or reading a science fiction novel. In 2010, the future of mass media is upon us today; the Internet. The Internet is and will only grow in the future as the primary means of delivering news, information and entertainment to the vast majority of Americans. Mass media as we know it today will take new shape and form in the next few years with the convergence and migration of three legacy mediums (Television, Radio, Newspaper) into one that is based on the Internet and will replace these mediums forever changing the face of journalism, media and politics. In this paper I will attempt to explain the transition of print media to one of the internet, how the shift to an internet based media environment will impact journalism and mass media, and how this migration will benefit society and forever change the dynamic of news and politics.
When speaking of citizen journalism, Nah, Yamamoto, Chung and Zuercher (2015) define citizen journalists as individuals contributing information such as photos, corrections, opinions or blog posts to the professional journalists for editing, or to the
Journalism: a profession under pressure? Journal of Media Business Studies, 6, 37-59. Scannell, P. (1995). The 'Secondary'. Social aspects of media history, Unit 9 of the MA in Mass. Communications (By Distance Learning).
New technology has developed rapidly since the birth of the internet, and it continues to expand and evolve affecting many domains, especially the print media. This essay will investigate the influence and impact of current technology of the electronic media and World Wide Web on print media, and how future developments in technology will affect the future direction of the traditional newspaper. The way in which “Bloggers” have influenced traditional journalism will also be explored and how this has affected the journalism profession. In addition, the negative impacts of how the electronic media is being used as a political forum will also be investigated. Finally, the author will predict the consequences of future developments in this rapidly growing industry and the implications this may have on the direction of print media.
This is seen within Tsikata’s (2014) journal as global media flows have enticed Africa to be a negative place. It is these media exemplifications that “overlook the diverse political, economic, social and cultural experiences of individual African countries” (Tsikata, 2014, p.34). This approach to the African continent being captured by global media flows to disregard the multiplicity of the distinctive nationalities occupying the continent, has “left an enduring legacy of negative press” (Tsikata, 2014, p.38). Tsikata (2014, p.38) also explains how western media is only absorbed in calamity broadcasting of the African continent and lacks consideration for the destructive aura global media flows are portraying on the news. Thereby, the idea to create a consolidated African persona that situates the many republics and cultures in the continent as the term of ‘African’ in relation to identify, is from the effect of Western global media flows and news. Whilst media infrastructure is abundant in the Western world, constructing the media to be an influential source of communication. Meanwhile, many African countries have a shortage in media infrastructure, and as a result “are unable to frame and represent themselves effectively in global media flows” (Tsikata, 2014, p.46). Thus, Tsikata’s (2014) research validates this collective depiction of the African continent to be an outcome of convenience for “Western and other global media to lump together” (Tsikata, 2014, p.45). Thus, this analysis of global media flows proves how the news is failing to broadcast existing dynamic media frames of countries and continents, as stereotyped cultures leave the western countries a poor perception on the already developed world and marginalizing those developing countries to have abandonment and antagonism in mainstream media. Therefore,