Journalists in Kogi State have been urged to embrace Multimedia to enable them to compete with their counterparts in the world.
The Program Coordinator of Get Involved, Dialogue and Improve (G-DRIP), a Participatory Governance and Media Literacy project in Kano and Kogi states, under the Collaborative Media Project governed by the MacArthur Foundation, Isiyaku Ahmed made the call while declaring open training on Multimedia Newsroom Journalism in Lokoja.
The Journalists, numbering 40 were drawn from Broadcast, Print, and Online Media.
According to the Project Coordinator, the training was to increase the knowledge of participants on the knowledge of multimedia newsroom journalism.
He states “In this initiative, we are looking to amongst other things, build the capacity of media practitioners on investigative reporting, journalism ethics, safety, media literacy, independence, and sustainability.”
“In today’s world of media convergence, news storytelling has changed. The way people consume news has also changed. Traditional news outlets are now evolving to content convergence in the media space.
He said most News organizations have moved to multimedia, using multi-platforms to tell stories, hence the need for Kogi Media practitioners to follow suit.
Ahmed pointed out that “Reporters and editors needed to be empowered and with the necessary skills that would make them tell stories in social spaces, which now accommodate a large audience.”
“We at Stallion Times recognize the importance of embracing and using new technologies and platforms to effectively convey stories that resonate with the audience in the digital age.
This workshop, therefore, is designed to introduce the concept of multimedia newsroom storytelling that caters to all sorts of audiences and platforms.
“It will help journalists appreciate the use of technology to deliver investigative reports in a blend of text, static images, animation, video, and audio clips. We expect that you will gain practical hands-on experience with our resource persons in writing and producing reports, and adopt the multimedia approach to improve your investigative report writing skills.
A Resource Person at the Training , Mr. Stephen Salawu tasked Media Practitioners on digital journalism, saying it is the best way to practice the job.
Me. Salawu also stressed the need to make use of Social Media for information dissemination, stating that over 1.85 billion people use Facebook alone daily.
