Media urged to go beyond ‘writing’

Gibson Nyikadzino-Zimpapers Politics Hub

LOCAL media should go beyond descriptive news writing and use journalism skills to simplify concepts into elements that will help citizens participate in national development, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Mr Nick Mangwana said yesterday.

Speaking at the artificial intelligence and journalism education summit in Harare, where he was represented by the ministry’s Chief Director Mr Jonathan Gandari, Mr Mangwana said the availability of AI tools and modern technologies should help local media to adopt analytical and predictive journalism.

The evolving nature of journalism through use of AI now required media organisations to use their skills to assist Government in policy formulation in a growing knowledge society.

“Just as we seek to beneficiate our minerals before we export, we also beneficiate information for our people to be able to make meaning of the many changes that are going on around them,” he said.

“I therefore challenge you to move beyond descriptive journalism, which simply says what happened, to analytical, predictive journalism powered by artificial intelligence.

“That predictive journalism will assist Government in policy formulation. For journalism, this knowledge society needs you to process the data, to simplify the concepts, to tell the story in a manner that will help our citizens participate in the building of the nation, in the economy, in the future developments of the nation.”

Mr Mangwana said the Heritage-Based Education 5.0 should be deployed in journalism as a key engine of the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2) for Zimbabwe to remain competitive and fuelled by ideas, urging universities to produce journalists who speak to emerging trends.

“This means our economy must be fuelled by ideas, by innovation, and application of technologies,” he added.

Zimpapers chief executive, Mr William Chikoto, who attended the summit, reinforced the importance of moving towards digital-first journalism formats, calling on media-training institutions to produce students who are able to tell stories in modern ways.

He urged media-training institutions, when reviewing their curricula, to make sure they had students who assimilate the modern newsroom ecosystem.

“Some products cannot tell stories. We need to ensure graduates will be able to work confidently in a converged technological industry. There is need to have students who are skilled in the use of AI tools and not just learn about them,” said Mr Chikoto.

His remarks highlighted Zimpapers’ commitment to embracing technological innovation as it navigated the opportunities and challenges of journalism in an AI-driven environment.

The summit was attended by journalism and media studies lecturers from institutions of higher learning, policymakers, diplomats, civic society members, as well as participants from Britain, Rwanda, Sweden, Zambia and Kenya.