Highway Africa

Report by Thabile Skhosana & Tebatso Mabilisa; Picture by Meodi Mothapo

Remmy Nweke 

Journalists can benefit from blogging. This is according to a senior Reporter in a daily newspaper in Lagos, Nigeria, Remmy Nweke.  He has been speaking at the Digital Citizen Indaba (DCI) on Blogging held at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.

Nweke says now journalists can put their local stories online for international audiences. He says putting  stories online for public comment and scrutiny has made him a credible global journalist. One other benefit is archiving of news material.Nweke points out that online archived stories can be accessed anywhere, anytime. Nweke emphasised that blogging is now a tool that journalist should use for their development.

CHALLENGES

As journalists, we are still faced with some challenges, especially in the African continent. Nweke argues that journalists have access to Internet only at their workplaces. This means that they have to use company resources in order to blog - this is viewed by managers as a waste of resources.

He points out that journalists should start investing on the opportunities provided by blogging. The lack of ICT infrastructure for the access, uptake and usage is however a challenge. 

What also came out of the DCI is the fact that anyone, anywhere can blog - blogging is not a specialized tool for journalists or information technology gurus but for all citizens. Nweke says people need to be encouraged to blog or visit blogs and comment on the material they find. Some of the material is just for fun, ranging from photos, videos, and written thoughts.