Digital Journalism is a practice that originates from the use of the Internet. Technological innovations, which previously allowed the mass distribution of news and information to large audience is now giving that power to individuals.
Being privileged to join other African Journalists in 2016 to participate in a short course in Digital Media or Online Journalism in the East African country of Kenya, I realised that digital journalism is creating a new media landscape for the 21st century, with low barriers to enter, computer networking technologies, and new writing genres such as blogs.
Freed from the necessity of large investments in distribution and production equipment, individuals and grass-root organisations have pioneered various new journalistic styles and practices and generated new communicative forms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Gmail, Skype and hyper-local geographically-based websites.
A major trend that has emerged in Journalism practice in Africa including Ghana as regards the internet and use of social media is the rise of independent media. These internet sites are now competing with the established Newspapers’ Websites in the provision of news and information to Ghanaians and Africans at large at home and abroad.
The vast majority of Journalists in Africa now use the internet regularly in their daily work. Newspaper circulations have dropped sharply, in some instances, collapsed altogether; newspaper readers have suddenly deserted in droves and migrated online, and advertisers have taken their money elsewhere as the media industry faces a decisive moment.
Embracing digital media by newspapers and other ‘old media’ might not provide all the solutions to all the problems faced by media managers these days, but the new platforms certainly provide opportunities that could help the media’s financial bottom lines.
Unfortunately, some of Africa’s media leaders have already been left behind by the digital media technologies. The leaders face embarrassing challenges: slow internet connections, if any at all, weak technological equipment and low multimedia skills among their workforces.
I think African media leaders or owners have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others and thus avoid repeating them themselves. Secondly, they can try to use what is already working in other parts of the world and develop this further. Thirdly, they can compare the useful methods other successful African media have already adopted and introduce these into their own environments.
The accessibility of mobile telephones and computers, combined with the global reach and penetration of the internet, has opened up a range of means of communication. Young people, in particular, have grasped the enormous capacity of the new media to foster connectivity.
The digital media dramatised by mobile and online platforms, is increasingly taking away huge audiences and some sizeable advertisers from the ‘old’ media. It is signaling a possible end to an era where media prospered phenomenally through selling eyeballs to advertisers.
In Ghana, for example, more than half of the population can be estimated to be using mobile phones with internet, television and radio. Many homes also use ipads, iphones, tablets and laptops. In some instances, the new technology has even allowed advertisers to by-pass the media altogether to reach audiences directly, thus compounding the survival of Newspapers, Television Stations and Radio businesses as we know them today.
Therefore, the scramble is now to rapidly find new ways of doing business in a media-scape that also offers unprecedented opportunities to those who embrace change.
In Africa, many are appreciating the use of Digital media including the use of mobile phones to receive news, as it has become the easiest form of communication now.
For more than a decade, as the desktop/laptop era of computing took hold, media organisations were at a severe disadvantage competing against a raft of financially and technologically stronger companies.
Most media outlets now have online presence. SMS has become a basic tool for reporters. Interactivity gives voice to increasing numbers of listeners. The ease of digital archiving makes it possible to create a collective media “memory” for the first time.
Impact on Newspaper Publishers
Many newspapers in Africa including Ghana have created online sites to remain competitive and have taken advantage of audio, video, and text linking to remain at the top of news consumers’ lists.
Newspapers rarely break news stories off late, with most websites reporting on breaking news before the cable news channels. Digital journalism allows reports to start out vague, generalised, and progress to a better story. Newspapers and TV cable are at a disadvantage because they generally can only put together stories when an ample amount of detail and information are available. Often, newspapers have to wait for the next day, or even two days later if it is a late-breaking story, before being able to publish it. Some are even weekly newspapers.
Newspapers lose a lot of ground to their online counterparts, with advertisement revenue shifting to the Internet, and subscription to the printed paper decreasing. People are now able to find the news they want, when they want, without having to leave their homes or pay to receive the news.
Because of this, many people have viewed digital media as the death of Journalism. Free advertising on websites has transformed how people publicise; the Internet has created a faster, cheaper way for people to get news out, thus creating the shift in ad sales from newspapers to the Internet.
There has been a substantial effect of digital journalism and media on the newspaper industry, with the creation of new business models. It is now possible to contemplate a time in the near future when major towns will no longer have a newspaper and when magazines and network news operations will employ no more than a handful of reporters.
Many newspapers and individual Print Journalists have been forced out of business because of the popularity of Digital Journalism. The Newspapers that have not been willing to be forced out of business have attempted to survive by saving money, laying off staff, shrinking the size of the publications, eliminating editions, as well as partnering with other businesses to share coverage and content.
As newspapers face the challenge of low sales globally, some players in the industry in Ghana say it is time for the print media in the country to invest more in innovation and online presence. According to them, while Internet penetration was slow in Ghana and most part of Africa, its capacity to cripple the newspaper industry in the country was real. However, they all agreed that newspapers would continue to exist, irrespective of the punch lines of the digital era.
In 2009, a study concluded that most Journalists are ready to compete in a digital world and that these Journalists believe the transition from Print to Digital Journalism in their newsroom is moving too slowly. Some highly specialised positions in the publishing industry have become obsolete. The growth in Digital Journalism and the near collapse of the economy has also led to down-sizing for those in the industry.
Students wishing to become Journalists now need to be familiar with Digital Journalism in order to be able to contribute and develop Journalism skills. Not only must a Journalist analyze his audience and focus on effective communication with them, he/she has to be quick; news websites are able to update their stories within minutes of the news event.
Critics believe digital journalism in Africa has made it easier for anyone to misinform the public. Many believe that this form of journalism has created a number of sites that do not have credible information.
In Africa, however, only a tiny percentage of people are connected to the internet – 5.3 percent of the population, according to the 2008 Internet World Status Website but now things have changed as many have access to internet.
Impact on the Readers
Digital Journalism allows for connection and discussion at levels that print does not offer on its own. People can comment on articles and start discussion boards to discuss articles. Before the Internet, spontaneous discussion between readers who had never met was impossible. The process of discussing a news item is a big portion of what makes for digital journalism. People add to the story and connect with other people who want to discuss the topic.
It opens up new ways of storytelling; through the technical components of the new medium, digital journalists can provide a variety of media, such as audio, video, and digital photography. It represents a revolution of how news is consumed by society. Online sources are able to provide quick, efficient, and accurate reporting of breaking news in a matter of seconds, providing society with a synopsis of events as they occur.
Throughout the development of the event, journalists are able to feed online sources the information keeping readers up-to-date in mere seconds. The speed in which a story can be posted can affect the accuracy of the reportage in a way which doesn’t usually happen in print journalism. Before the emergence of digital journalism, the printing process took much more time, allowing for the discovery and correction of errors.
There are great advantages with digital journalism and there are new blogging evolution that people are becoming accustomed to, but there are disadvantages. For instance, people are used to what they already know and can’t always catch up quickly with the new technologies in the 21st century. The goals of print and digital journalism are the same, although different tools are needed to function.
The interaction between the writer and consumer is new, and this can be credited to digital journalism. There are many ways to get personal thoughts on the Web. There are some disadvantages to this, however, the main one being factual information. There is a pressing need for accuracy in digital journalism, and until they find a way to press accuracy, they will still face some criticism.
News organisations in Africa are also increasingly dependent on Google and a handful of other powerful tech firms for the tools and platforms needed to reach their audience. They are also increasingly vulnerable to the changes the tech firms are introducing.
The shift to mobile, for example, is making news an ever-more expensive arena in which to operate, but it is not yet producing the kind of new revenues to back up news organisations that will allow them to support those expenses.
Most visited social-media sites include:
• Facebook.com
• Whatsapp
• Viber
• Twitter
• Google.com
• Yahoo.com
• YouTube.com
• Live.com (Windows Live)
• Imo
• telegram
• Wikipedia
• Blogger.com
The upsurge of Digital Journalism has indeed brought about many changes in attitudes to work among African Journalists. It has changed information gathering, editing, packaging, and dissemination and is re-shaping journalism in ways that had never been imagined.
It enables the African Journalist to write and edit from anywhere; roles can be outsourced such as subbing. The sub- editor does not need to be in the newsroom. It helps to bypass the censors and anything goes, of course at a hidden cost.
With Digital Media, it makes everyone a journalist (mobile phone or digital camera – upload content and publish on any of the numerous available sites or on your own blog or send to a newsroom of your choice. News and information are available anywhere, anytime. A lot to choose from and it is all free.
While some of these independent websites are national in outlook, there are also many of them that appeal only to particular ethnic or political audience.
People who visit some websites think that some of these websites have no business existing, as they are not professionally run.
In fact, in Africa, it is believed that politicians fund some websites or new portals, especially those who have no media access or have lost credibility, and have now hired hacks or jobbers do touch-up *to* their images and raise their profile using these websites and portals.
Conclusion
As indicated, there is a yawning digital divide in international terms. However, the tsunami of digital content will not pass Africa by. The time for creative responses is now. We need not wait to see what the cost of fuel does to the economics of newsprint and distribution. By doing business as usual will simply see the continent’s media industry decline as other players, with their different agendas and social roles, seize the opportunities.
Since the internet is still evolving in Africa, and is yet to reach the adoption levels already achieved in the western countries, there will still be other unfolding consequences on the practice of journalism in the Sub-region. But for sure, there will be no going back. Journalists in Africa must remember that the web is a way of life, which we can no longer escape.
Most community media houses in Ghana and some African Countries are not ready for the new technologies due to financial constraints, hence training needs to be the next and most urgent priority.
It is my humble submission that Journalists and Newspaper Organisations fully embrace the use of Digital Media while at the same time take full advantage of the opportunities it presents, as can be seen and is already the case in the developed countries.
