German based television, DW News held a panel discussion this week whose topic was ‘Bringing story telling back to News’. The panel discussion which was held online targeted journalists in and different personalities in the media in Uganda and Africa at large.
On the panel, Uganda was represented by NBS TV Chief of Strategy Joseph Kigozi, Zambia was represented by Diamond TV Chief Executive Officer Costa Mwansa, and Maximilan Hofmann the head of news at DW also took part in the discussion.
Moderating the panel was Head of content creation at Switch TV Kenya, Ms Tamima Ibrahim who is has had a history in shaping the media in Kenya. Although she was a moderate, she too had experience to guide the conversation.
“COVID-19 shook the status quo of journalism. It has been an eye-opener on various ways of gathering stories for example via a zoom links and breaking news on social media,” Joe Kigozi said.
Diamond Tv’s CEO Costa Mwansa advised journalists to use videos to share short and precise news stories on social media because many people are always on their phones.
“Online platforms have disrupted traditional storytelling and we need to adopt them. Storytelling and Truth-telling remain the head currency of news,” he added
DW’s Maximillian urged journalists to change their perspectives of just sitting in high chairs to present news to people but to rather have a deeper understanding of the news before presenting it.
Incase you missed the discussion, you can still watch it here.