The catchword now is Online Publishing

For the past five days we have undergone an intensive training on how to effectively use the internet in modern journalism.  What we have been doing is to use  the internet in fact finding, news monitoring, communication and publication. 

In short we were taught on how best to search information through the internet and how to publish journalistic content on line.

The programme was very useful because it was practical intensive  and oriented such that at the end of the five days it became clear to most of us that the mainstream media should strive to make changes in the way they present news to the public.

With  blogs becoming  the main avenue of communication between most people in the world, mainstream media should also understand that online publication is their saviour.

Day three; Why online publishing?

       

RUPERT Murdoch’s speech to the American Society of Newspapers Editors on April 13, 2005 is a waking up call for the traditional newspapers to pull up their socks to avoid becoming irrelevant in this age of the internet.

What he says is that they should change the way the present news to make it readable to the present day generation which relies much on the internet for communication and getting information.

Murdoch explains that because the number of people who use the printed newspaper is declining daily, it is important for the traditional newspapers to adopt online publications.  In so doing what they publish should be relevant to their needs.

In a nutshell, he says the traditional newspapers should strive to avoid being digital immigrants but be relevant to the present day readers whom he calls digital natives.  The way news is printed in these online publications should suit their aspirations and views.

The relevance of Murdoch’s speech to the Tanzanian Press is that almost all the newspapers have started online publications.

However, there is much to be done because many of the stories on their online publications are the same printed in their newspapers.

Apart from that, sometimes the online publications can carry the same stories for two to three days instead of updating them on daily basis or whenever they get a news story.

Efforts to combat climate changes in Tanzania

CLIMATE change is a phenomenon which has the world reeling because of its adverse effects on the environment.  The climate changes are compounded by human activities such as deforestation up hazard agricultural practices and emission of green house gases, especially in developed countries.  

In Tanzania, a good example is Mount Kilimanjaro which just some years back used to be covered by snow but now the situation is different.

Scientific reports show that the snow at the top of the mountain has  

been reduced by 55 per cent between 1962 and 2000.

And  a recent study published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), quotes economists warning that Tanzania has just 20 years to adapt its agriculture to climate change or face major impacts that my jeopardize the country’s economy.

The government of Tanzania has been implementing a number of programmes  in collaboration with development partners in efforts to alleviate the problem.

One such programme is supported by Norway. The two countries are working together to combat climate change, the aim being to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, a programme whereby Norway  has allocated USD 73 million.

  

Germany defence minister resigns

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg Is no longer the Germany defence minister.  He resigned on March 3, 2011 because of allegations that he had  plagiarised his doctoral thesis.

The University of  Bayreuth stripped him the  doctorate   after he admitted the mistake.

Guttenberg (39)  who is from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU), blamed the errors on his busy schedule when he finished his thesis in 2006.  He said he copied unknowingly from other sources.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union party (CDU).

Thomas de Maiziere has been appointed the new Germany defence minister.

Second day internet training

FOR the past two days we learnt a lot about the internet.  This include different types of websites which one can use for various purposes from networking to buying.

But another interesting thing which came up was to find that according to statistics of internet usage in Africa Tanzania is still far behind compared to neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Uganda.

This revelation brought about a heated debate whereby most of the participants were of the opinion that the statistics do not reflect the true nature of the volume of internet usage in the country.  They said the number of internet users in the country surpassed by the far those statistics.

Moreover, there were reflections that the government should create more conducive conditions for the continuation and survival of the private media in the country than the situation is at the moment. 

Some participants were of the opinion that the government’s action especially on taxes and giving preference to government newspapers as far as government adverts are concerned (bearing in mind that the in this country the government is the biggest advertiser), are stifling or killing the private newspapers in the country.

Internent training for editors IFM Dar

My name is Revocatus Makaranga. I am a journalist working with New Habari Ltd (2006) as Chief Sub Editor at Mtanzania daily newspaper.  I am currently attending a five day internet workshop for Editors and Trainers at the Tanzania Global Training Centre at IFM Dar es Salaam.

The training is conducted by the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Tanzania Chapter (MISA-TAN) in collaboration with Finnish Foundation for Media Communication and Development (Vikes Foundation). 

What I expect is that after this training I will be more knowledgeable and computer literate than I was before and be able to use it to gain more knowledge and be more efficient in my job.