daniel chigunwe
Rutendo Gomwe Herald Correspondent
African media have a major role to play in spearheading socio-economic transformation in a quest to rid the continent of some of its ills by setting the agenda on key issues.
This was said by Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) president George Maponga at the Union of African Journalists training workshop recently held in Cairo, Egypt.
Maponga challenged African media houses and journalists to take the lead in telling the continent’s own stories.
“The continent’s media houses and journalists should not play second fiddle to global media houses when it comes to telling the African story,” he said.
Maponga said African media had a major role to play in spearheading socio-economic transformation.
He said the advent of social media had created opportunities for African journalists to make names for themselves.
“Social media has allowed African journalists to create names for themselves by bursting the balloon of fake news and be repositories of credible news predicated on the triad of accuracy, balance and ethics,” Maponga said.
He said despite the proliferation of fake news, timely and balanced news in the news consumer markets had not decreased.
Maponga said African journalists should tell the story of their heroes, the past and present, to renew hope that the continent could still steer its own independent path to produce socio-economic development of its people.
He said the media played a critical role in informing and influencing decisions and policy making and called on African journalists to take up the challenge.
Online Reporter