Fair poll coverage wake up call to media, bloggers

TANZANIA Red Cross Society, in collaboration with International Committee of the Red Cross has appealed to journalists from various media outlets and social media in the Lake Zone regions to report fairly on the forthcoming general election.

“Social media can be very fast, with live tweets and pictures from breaking stories, but this very speed can easily lead even the most respectable of news organisations to blindly accept spurious information in the race to be first with the news,’’ says the Red Cross. Another danger with social media is the way it allows information to be hidden behind a cloak of anonymity.

In a conflict zone there are often very good reasons for those posting messages, pictures and video to remain anonymous and keep their location secret. “Secrecy however, can provide a shroud for the propagandists, the malicious and mischievous,” said the Red Cross Tanzania Regional Chairman, Mr Daniel Kalimbia One way to penetrate that cloak is to use social media as a way to make direct contact with those who are posting.

It is not perfect but at least making contact through messages or direct contact through relatively safe channels like Skype allows information to be questioned and expanded upon. It also perhaps allows a relationship of trust to be developed between journalist and source. It is probably appropriate here to mention so called “citizen journalists”. In my view there is no such animal– they are bloggers.

“Bloggers can mix what they see and hear with opinions and links with no responsibility to anyone but themselves. Some are quite good at it, some are simply activists”.

Mr Kalimbia said that journalism, whether one regards it as a craft, a trade or a profession, involves a lifetime of training, an ethical framework and a responsibility to an audience who are prepared to trust that particular news outlet to do the job of sorting the wheat from the joke for them. He explained that journalists are trained to seek out information and to check and cross-check it.

They are taught to question sources and not to blindly accept what they are told. They are told to report accurately what they see and hear and to attribute everything else. Some journalists are not very good at their job and some outlets not very good at distinguishing between analysis and opinion, but nothing in this world is perfect. Social media is something relatively new but there is nothing magical about it.

The International Committee of the Red Cross Facilitator, Ms Stella Masomu said that the Social media is not something to be ignored. It can be an immediate tip off to a breaking story.

This is especially true of news organizations using sophisticated aggregation software to pick up movements and trends. She said social media provides information which is sometimes, but sadly not always, directly from the source. It can provide information from inside an area not easily accessible because of the actions of governments, natural disasters, or military action.

The objective of the one day workshop for journalists and bloggers was to build capacity on how to engage the electorate and help them make right decisions to vote for credible leaders who will be on the administration for the next five years.

In her opinion, there is no such animal as ‘they are bloggers.’ Bloggers can mix what they see and hear with opinions and links with no responsibility to anyone but themselves. Some are quite good at it, some are simply activists.

Journalism, whether one regards it as a craft, a trade or a profession, involves a lifetime of training, an ethical framework and a responsibility to an audience who are prepared to trust that particular news outlet to do the job of sorting the wheat from the chaff for them.

Journalists are trained to seek out information and to check and cross-check it. They are taught to question sources and not to blindly accept what they are told. They are told to report accurately what they see and hear and to attribute everything else. Some journalists are not very good at their job and some outlets not very good at distinguishing between analysis and opinion, but nothing in this world is perfect.

Social media is something relatively new but there is nothing magical about it. The Tanzania Red Cross Media officer, Mr Khamar Kashoro said that journalists have a unique and incredibly powerful role in politics. As observers and reporters, they bear witness to the horrific consequences of dirty politics but also clean politics but something to do with is to avoid conflict that relay this horror to people.

According to the international committee of the Red Cross Media officer, Ms Lynette Kamau, in recognition of the special role journalists’ play and the risks they take, journalists are specifically protected by the laws of war.

“Under the Geneva Conventions “journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered as civilians … and shall be protected as such under the Conventions” Said Ms Kamau.

Journalists can be part of the solution. They not only play a critical role in informing what taking place in politics is but can also be vital in terms of educating about the principles of informing through their work.

By understanding International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and who it is intended to protect, journalists can recognize and report on IHL on violations and ensure they are reporting responsibly and accurately during election.

OP Daily News