The Digital Journalist

“Tech-Savvy” is an appellation that many journalists of my generation like to add to our career profiles.  We believe it serves to bolster our perception as being in tune with the trends of the profession. Apart from the ability to further job prospects,   being tech- savvy is also an admittance of the fact that technology is driving contents and the traditional way of doing journalism is gradually fading.

With the rate at which  smartphones and tablets  are becoming the primary access point for news and information, the new reality for journalists who want to earn a successful practice is to embrace the truth that digital has not only  come to stay- it is indeed the future.

In the light of recent development in the media space where news and its accompaniments are produced and then distributed through the internet, the theme for the 2015 Women in Journalism conference which is “Truth and objectivity in the Digital Age is” is apt for the time.

The reality for an aspiring digital journalist is that it is not enough to be categorized as a ‘print’ or ‘broadcast’ journalist alone.   Say in 10 years from now, the peg question for employment would be “are you a digital journalist? 

The internet has succeeded in breaking restriction in job descriptions; that is why we have presenters engaging their audience with clips on YouTube and Twitter while some print journalists have taken the game a notch higher by including Vlogs in the body of their stories since video is also gaining prominence among news consumers.

In a way, both print and broadcast journalists are relying on comments generated by their stories online to gauge the pulse of the public. So this makes for a unifying point-that is using multimedia platforms to tell our stories as against the concept of a sole medium which used to be the norm before the dawn of digital.

The digital journalist is that person who has studied trends and come to realise that continuous education on the job and self development are very critical to enhancing one's status as a leader in the media industry, hence the need to learn how to be tech-savvy.

Recently, I was privileged to be part of the 7 journalists trained by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in partnership with the United Nation Foundation on the coverage of the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This was an opportunity I got through Facebook. Opportunities like this abound for both print and broadcast journalists to advance since the internet does not only provide us with better avenues of telling our stories but also access to opportunities that can align us with the demand of the  new age.

Women in journalism stand at a great advantage if we are quick to embrace this reality and start thinking like computer scientists. Digital should not scare us, we cannot wish it away.  

-HO

THE REAL WOMAN

To be real is to exist and be seen.  It is not an attribute that can be feigned. It is an inner trait that exudes feminine grace and virtue.  Real women are those who know that the future is living, so they start acting out their prospects and do not delay till a ‘convenient’ time. They are not afraid to take bold steps towards self-realization because it makes them less desirable as a ‘wife material’. 

For them, the bible is not a book of ornaments to be adorned ceremoniously on Sundays. A real woman understands that the bible is the best instructional material that had ever existed. From it, she learns not to compare herself with others because those who do are not wise (2COR 10:12). She does not make for herself role models from women of the world, she is aware of the sad reality that some of them are denizens of inordinate ambitions. She is an imitator of the virtues of Deborah. She rises to the occasion with courage and absolute dependence on God; the way Deborah did when she led the children of Israel to battle. Real women multitask. Our great matriarch Deborah was a Wife, Mother, Prophetess and Judge. It was not recorded that she could not bring herself to the submission of her husband because of the position her God given abilities conferred on her.

There is no gainsaying the fact that every female, either they have undergone the three blood splitting cycles  or not have to be conscious of the responsibilities God placed on them as life bearers.  To be a real woman is to possess the important quality that is required for one to be so called. 

I was privileged to attend a seminar where big wings in the communication industry gathered to discuss the opportunities, challenges and prospects of Brand Nigeria.  A germane point which came to the fore that I think we all should identify with as a matter of urgency is the need for the family to serve as a fertile ground to raise values that would reflect positively in the development of the nation. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. The best person to build a nation is the woman because she molds the character of people who inhabit the nation. It is in cognizance of this fact that Ruby Manikan, an Indian religious leader wrote in the London Observer saying of the week that “If you educate a man you educate a person, but if you educate a woman you educate a family”.  

Men are the backbone in a home, but the fact remains that the head cannot stand without the neck. The man is the head, the woman is the neck. A real woman instills values. She brings up her children to be intellectually, emotionally and spiritually strong. As opposed to what we have been used to, men ought to take the lead role in shaping the degree of spirituality in their family, a real woman is aware of this and she inculcates it in her children.  

It is instructive to mention at this point that we live in a bizarre world where insanity has replaced normalcy with the increasing tides of man inhumanity to man. This would not have been the case if humans submit to the dictates of values rather than greed.

Real women are not born, they are made and regenerated through a life of submission and obedience to God’s will. Like excellence, to be real is a habit built consciously. How you can be one? Simple, the training manual is available. Read through Prov 31: 10-31. Mediate, internalize and launch yourself into a new discovery of purpose as a woman of destiny.  

Sincerely, 

Hannah 

Hope you enjoyed this piece, would love to read your reactions . Do you agree with all I wrote? Let me hear from you.