Mobile journalism will define Africa's agenda in the Digital revolution

When I was a college student, social media was just gaining traction in Kenya. Facebook in particular, was then this really exciting new space for virtual interaction  that I remember made my world feel even bigger. I was a journalism student getting trained for a media industry that was already under pressure from emerging technologies ushered in by the internet. Being online was starting to give people alternative sources of accessing and exchanging information. And this made the media ecosystem ripe for disruption.

One of key features of this disruption was the empowering of audiences. Media users now power the attention economy. And as J Webster notes, their decisions about what to read, watch or share, taken as a whole, create the audiences that sustain media and give them meaning.

It’s against this backdrop that we find many media entities locally and abroad,  struggling to win the attention of audiences who have varied tastes and preferences.  And since money goes where attention goes, this struggle is proving to be a case of adapt or die for newsrooms and the people involved. 

Globally different news organizations are trying various audience engagement strategies with varied levels of success. A lot of investment is going into audience research,particularly data analytics to enable them understand and respond to the changing habits of their audiences. For example, we are already witnessing the role of artificial intelligence (AI)  in the newsroom.

At one of Canada’s largest newspapers, the Globe and Mail, they are using an AI system called Sophie. Every 10 minutes, Sophi looks at all of The Globe and Mail’s content; at every place each story is being promoted; and at all the ways the audience values that content. It finds valuable stories that merit greater promotion and updates every page of the website accordingly.

In neighboring USA, the New York Times - one of the most iconic news brands with a long reputation for quality journalism - has also been experimenting with online audiences . To retain their loyal readers and earn new ones, they have focused on a subscription-first business. The main pillar of this model, according to their strategy report is journalism excellence -  to provide journalism so strong that several million people around the world are willing to pay for it.

Different news organizations in Kenya are also trying to experiment and contextualize some of these models. The recent launch by the Nation of their new brand face - Nation.Africa with a focus on digital storytelling is one such example. But this is a huge investment that can only be shouldered by the largest news organization in East Africa. Smaller news organizations lack such fiscal muscles. 

This year the global corona pandemic has exacerbated the threats facing our local media houses and for some, it looks like this could be the knockout punch. Massive job losses and pay cuts have hit many newsrooms. Back in June, people were shocked to hear of K24 journalists getting sacked in the dead of night via SMS. This was followed by condemnation from other media players and calls for a humane approach to dealing with the crisis. Others like the Kenya Editors Guild also proposed several solutions like tax incentives to media houses and the establishment of a media sustainability fund.

As a communications professional looking at this turbulent media environment, I have had to grapple with the question of where do I fit into this ever changing media landscape? Where can my skills and talent thrive and what do I need to learn in order to adapt to an ecosystem that is growing larger and more complex everyday? 

One of the key solutuons lies in mobile journalism or storytelling because essentially that is what is at the heart of journalism - good storytelling.  Technology may change, but stories don’t  - only how we consume it. And looking at the consumption patterns in Kenya, we can confidently say that the future is mobile

Kenya’s young and expanding population is increasingly spending time online. With mobile adoption the highest in Africa, mobile journalism looks set to dominate the business of news. Major news organizations around the world like Aljazeera’s AJ+ have been at it for awhile. And independent journalists have also gone mobile. Self-styled Mojo or mobile journalist, Yusuf Omar of hashtagourstories is a good example. In Kenya we have Mobile Journalism Africa started by local independent journalists that aims to publish solution-based stories. 

These storytellers are  adopting the use of free online platforms like facebook, youtube and twitter to publish their content and engage with their target audience. In addition, it allows independent journalists to pursue the type of stories they are passionate about. 

Mobile journalism is also an opportunity for newsrooms to democratize since it can allow many authentic voices to be heard. Any individual with a smartphone in the pocket can use it to record, edit, upload and share stories right from wherever they are and  even give the story a  personal flavor. This flexibility and freedom to use from any location is also a cheaper alternative to running a physical newsroom or studio facilities.

But for independent journalists using mobile devices, one of the biggest challenges remains funding. Producing good stories takes time and that needs money. And so it will take a lot of experimenting with different funding models to find what works. 

Meanwhile now more than ever, the world needs accurate, fair, balanced and authentic voices online to cut through the tide of biased opinions and fake news that have emerged as the mobile device and social media take a more central role in our lives. Social media is giving everybody a voice but the flip side of this is what some call an infodemic. And so how can we spark and then channel the right energy and discussions from online platforms into real instruments of change? 

That is the challenge individual storytellers who understand the impact of stories have to take up. And we can’t wait until things like funding are lined up perfectly. We need to keep learning, experimenting and adapting to new technologies that will help us tell more engaging, relevant and impactful stories. And these stories will be invaluable to how Kenyans and Africans in general, define ourselves and explain our unique worldview so as to drive our agenda in the global digital economy that is revolutionizing the world. 

P.S:Interested in video storytelling through your mobile device? Then you could find this short tutorial useful and they also have an upcoming training.