A three-day virtual conference on the future of journalism education in Southern Africa kicks off on Thursday, December 10, 2020.
The conference, which focuses on the need to embrace innovations in journalism education, has been organised by MISA Malawi, DW Akademie and Namibia Media Trust (NMT) with DW Akademie providing technical and financial support.
Dubbed ‘Omuuonge uozombuze|Amaba !hoasa’ or Collecting the News |Telling the Truth, this online conference follows a physical conference that MISA Malawi hosted at Sunbird Lilongwe Hotel from October 31 to November 2, 2019.
It has attracted over 30 journalism education academics, senior editors, journalists and media freedom campaigners from across Southern Africa and Germany.
Professor Herman Wassermann, who is the Director of the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is expected to deliver a keynote address to mark the beginning of the conference.
Alfred Ntonga, Deputy Chief Executive Officer for one of newspaper publishing companies in Malawi, Nation Publications Limited (NPL), is expected to present on ‘Maintaining Journalism Standards in Times of Crisis’.
Director of Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) William Bird will discuss the topic ‘Using Quality Journalism to Fight Disinformation’ before Gwen Lister, who heads Namibia Media Trust (NMT) takes the participants through a presentation on podcasting.
Lister will also present on a topic ‘Who is Watching the Watchdogs?’ before Director of Volume Paul McNally concludes the first day of the conference with a session on ‘How to Set up a Podcast’.
A digital rights and policy specialist Koliwe Majama will start off the second day of the training with ‘Massive Attack – The impact of Covid-19 on Journalism and Human Rights-The case of Zimbabwe’.
Zimbabwe’s Centre for Innovation and Technology (CITE) Founder and Director Zenzele Ndebele will present on ‘The impact of Covid-19 on Journalism and Journalism Training’.
Emilius Paulus, project officer and training coordinator at NMT and Allan Finlay, a journalism lecturer at Wits University will jointly discuss ‘Mapping Journalism Education in Sub-saharan Africa: Trends, Models, Topics’ and ‘Interactive: Identifying the Future Model of Journalism Education’.
MISA Malawi National Director Aubrey Chikungwa is expected to present on ‘Co-creation and Collaboration in the Digital Age to Enhance Media Sustainability’ before MISA Malawi Digital Storytelling trainers George Kalungwe and Sellina Kainja talk about ‘WhatsApp as a Training Tool’.
On the last day of the conference, Tuesday, December 15, 2020, there will be ‘Emerging Trends in Journalism: Assessing Training Needs-New Normal’ by Dr. Admire Mare, a senior lecturer at the Department of Communication, Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).
MISA Malawi National Director and Peter Deselaers, DW Akademie Country Representative Namibia will do ‘Connecting the Dots: Building the Future of Journalism Education’.
Founder of Zimbabwe-based Nafuna TV Nqobizitha Mlilo will present on ‘Nafuna campus-Evolving Digital Training in Zimbabwe’.
The conference will conclude with DW Akademie Project Manager Southern Africa Stefanie Duckstein and Chloe McGrath calling on participants to build a regional trainer pool and make use of slack hacks.
