Volume 52 Issue 09 - September 2014 : Feature

It`s 5am and the nation has just woken up to breaking news of an earthquake hitting some parts of the country. The mood suddenly turns sombre. 

Everyone is just too anxious to know how their loved ones are coping, if ever they are still alive, or what the reality is on the ground. They switch on their television sets and flip through the channels. 

They switch from one radio station to the other but all in vain as details about the situation are just sketchy.

Although this scenario may have a very remote chance of becoming a reality in Botswana, natural disasters are a common phenomenon anywhere in the world. Naturally, when they strike it becomes big news. 

However, it is not a given that mainstream media will always have access to the affected areas. Granted, but there is a new twist to this, that of citizen journalists.  This type of journalism was precipitated by three major events - the 2004 Tsunami disaster, 2005 London bombings and Hurricane Katrina in the United States of America. 

Were it not for citizen journalism the world would have been deprived of some of the major stories, first-hand information or experiences of citizens of the affected areas. 

Howstuffworks.com website defines Citizen journalism as “any type of news gathering and reporting -- writing and publishing articles about a newsworthy topic, or posting photographs or video of a newsworthy event -- that is done by members of the general public rather than the professional news agencies commonly referred to as ‘mainstream media`.”

For instance, after the London bombings and Hurricane Katrina 20 000 e-mails, 1000 photographs were sent to the BBC, 20 videos used on Sky News, BBC and the Guardian. This was the beginning of an alternative form of journalism, citizen disaster management responses, self-organisation of citizens and a smart network mob. The news is spontaneous, citizen-led and citizen-shaped.

“Due to the availability of technology, citizens often can report breaking news more quickly than traditional media reporters. Notable examples of citizen journalism reporting from major world events are, the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 2013 protests in Turkey, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and most recently the Euromaidan events in Ukraine,” states Wikipedia.

With cutting edge technology such as hand held gadgets, smart phones, portable computers, internet -YouTube, blogs, social networks such as Facebook, Tweeter and others, suddenly everyone is a journalist as they can spread information from anywhere in the world at the click of a button. 

Consequently, citizen journalism is now proving to be a trend setter in breaking news and perhaps the fastest of them all. It is proving to be an effective tool that can save lives during times of disasters as evidenced when Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was widely reported through citizen journalism. 

Even in the ongoing bloody Syrian war, video clips from citizen journalists have been broadcast on international newscasts. In dangerous situations where professional camera equipment cannot operate, citizen journalists can gather news with their sleek, portable hand held devices. Some video clips and pictures showing Boko Hram atrocities were shot using smart phone cameras. 

With evident abundance of technological devices and advanced modes of communication this century coupled with Botswana having one of the highest mobile telephony penetrations of 144 in the world, Batswana can use such tools to transmit information to its intended publics.

Lucretia Chima a professional journalist who recently participated in a two day National Disaster Preparedness Media Workshop says in an interview that citizen journalism has its own shortcomings. “While citizen journalism is a progressive media development, citizen journalists have no journalism training which instills journalism ethics. Some citizen journalists can be insensitive. 

“For example, they can get a picture of a dead person and upload it. This can cause unnecessary alarm and often exaggerate the truth without considering the consequences of their actions. Journalists are trained to present news in a palatable way. They have deontology- the moral duty hence presentation of facts matters.  Conversely, you cannot take a man from the streets and ask them to perform surgery!” she boldly exclaims, 

“Journalists are supposed to possess qualifications to maintain professional credibility and transform lives.”

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Narciso Rosa Berlanga, says reporting under emergency situations during disasters requires responsibility by all, on the part of National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), journalists as well as everybody involved. 

He says where professional journalists cannot reach, reporting about a disaster in an area through social networks can play a role in alerting others or cautioning residents so that people are not caught off guard, it can surely save lives. ENDS

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