The evolving face of news

ibeCAme editor of NewsDay when newspapers were already in the throes of a comatose economy: sales were plummeting terribly and advertisers were feeling the pinch of declining buying power which meant advertising was becoming increasingly pointless.

The very concept of news itself was being challenged by what became known as citizen journalism. People were getting their news on social media 24 hours ahead of newspapers. The salaciousness of social media news upstaged the fact that it was mostly fake. Readers swarmed to social media much to the detriment of newspapers where they would get fact-checked information.

The response of most private daily newspapers was to emulate the way news was reported on social media. it could have worked in the short-term, but readers began to lose trust in newspapers.

The first thing i did when i was given the editorship of NewsDay was to hold a workshop with my staff.

i said: “Look here guys, we’ve got to change the news reporting model; the current one has reached its end.”

i introduced what is called “issue-led journalism”, which i’d introduced with a good degree of success at The Standard. but that transition was always going to be long and difficult with staff steeped in old habits.

All media houses in Zimbabwe use one news model namely, events reporting, which according to experts focuses mainly on the facts – who, what, when, where, why and How – but this tends to be reactive in nature as reporters only react to calls to attend Press briefings or breaking news. events reporting is unsuitable for setting the agenda and stirring debate as it rarely interrogates what is behind the event — and is always 24 hours late.

in Zimbabwe events reporting is made worse by the misplaced belief that all news needs be political. The political story dominates all reportage but evidence abounds that, because of it, readers have reached a state called “news fatigue”.

my call for a new model was based on the glaring fact that Zimbabweans are now collectively in a state of weariness. Over the past two decades the story has not been good; day-in, day-out, the media bombard us with stories of gloom. The politics have not been right and the media have taken it upon themselves to loud hail into our offices and homes the same story of doom and gloom. This is despite that newspaper sales have been dropping astronomically in the past decade or so, pointing to the fact that the media, particularly print, have alienated themselves from their readers.

issue-led journalism is designed to inform the public, debate and produce content aimed at meeting the needs of the target audience. it begins with journalists asking: “what are the issues that keep Zimbabweans awake every day?”

Readers need to have these issues addressed; they look for solutions to the questions that vex their minds every day. They look to the media to provide, or at least suggest, solutions.

many organisations in Africa have already recognised the necessity for a new model.

michael salzwedel, while online editor of the oldest independent newspaper in south Africa, Grocott’s Mail, said of their new model way back in 2010:

“we are not just offering news content; we’re broadening our focus and trying to push through content that is of use and not that which is just of interest. This is information that you can use in your life.”

The concept of “news we can use” has been around for while in other parts of the world.

besides issue-led journalism, a good number of journalists awakening to the weaknesses of the old model have invented an interesting model they have dubbed “solutions journalism”.

Corinne ellis in a paper titled Solutions journalism: empower your audience by focusing on the whole story” writes: “Journalists are no strangers to the phenomenon known as news fatigue. so much of the news we consume leaves us feeling powerless and desensitised. we get overwhelmed with what is wrong with the world and are left wondering, “what now?” in addition to informing, one of the functions of journalists is to empower — a purpose that is unfortunately often overshadowed by gloom and doom.”

she advocates for solutions journalism which the solutions Journalism Network (sJN) defines as “an approach to reporting that addresses social issues but focuses on responses to the problems. it is about taking a rigorous look at the whole picture — both the issue and the answer.”

she suggests that, instead of fixating on what is going wrong; we can look at what is going right.

Going forward i think NewsDay should take a closer look at these models. Obviously there would be others, but the idea is to figure out which model is most suitable to the Zimbabwean situation.

Congratulations to NewsDay for reaching your “tin anniversary”.