John Ndlovu
The evolution of technology in the media industry just like in other sectors has its own pros and cons in the profession locally and worldwide.
The digitisation of media spaces has seen information reaching the consumer faster and in less expensive ways than in the old days when the only available platforms were magazines, newspapers, television and radio.
Enter what other writers may term the space-age, traditional platforms have either been overtaken by new ways of doing business or some platforms have actually gone defunct.
Former Sunday News columnist Meluleki Moyo believes the evolution of technology in media has brought in more positives than negatives. He added that information dissemination through digital platforms has lessened the gap between the rich and the poor in terms of access to news.
“Technology has increased consumption of news with media personnel now disseminating news on the go through social media.” Stated Moyo.
Academy Chinamhora, the Zimbabwe Media Commission Secretary and Manager said local news can now reach global audiences faster through digital platforms.
“Morden news mediums have created more jobs for media personnel. It has also benefited content creators and made it easy for stories such as the Zimbabwean one to be easily told and disseminated by Zimbabweans themselves.” Chinamhora told Zim GBC News .
Malvern Mkulu, the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists(ZUJ) programs coordinator however believes the industry has been eroded by the advent of digital platforms that have flooded the market and in most times churning out fake news.
“The so-called citizen journalists and untrained practitioners are lowering standards of our trade mostly through writing unbalanced stories and publishing falsehoods.” Mkulu said.
Veteran journalist and Media Studies Lecturer Loghty Dube echoed the sentiments of Malvern Mkulu saying the emergence of the so-called citizen journalists has lowered the quality of news stories being disseminated to the consumers.
“Citizen journalists are not professionals and they are not guided by ethics. The biggest challenge is that the public does not know the difference between trained journalists and the so-called citizen journalists.” Said Dube who is currently the Executive Director of the Voluntary Media Council Of Zimbabwe (VMCZ), a media self regulatory body.