07/12/2008 +0000 GMT
User Comment(s) | By Kennedy Abwao
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African media executives meeting Wednesday to discuss the peaceful co-existence of various forms of telecommunication, have proposed the use of the new phenomenon in the industry, known as citizen journalism, to bridge the growing need for local content.
According to the executives, content has always remained the driver of the broadcasting industry, but the local content is "the new king" in the game for a prosperous industry.
"We should now turn our attention to citizen journalism. That is a form of local content that is not being made use of in our media," said Kiarie Nderitu, the Technical Manager, Nation Television (NTV), a Kenyan privately run broadcast media house.
Similar sentiments have also been shared by a number of local and international broadcasters who converged in Nairobi for a three-day conference, dubbed The First AfricanBroadcast, Film and Convergence Conference, to discuss telecommunication integration.
Ian Fernandes, the Managing Director, Nation Digital Division, one of the groups within the vast media empire, encompassing television broadcasting, radio and print newspapers, said citizen journalism is one of the key strategies of achieving the goals of convergence.
"Content will rule the day, but it should not be given out for free. We will need journalists that are multi-skilled to achieve the newsroom convergence. The other factor will be citizen journalism, which we have not fully exploited," Fernandes said.
Speaking during the conference, also attended by leading television players, Charles Igwe, the Chief Executive, BigPicture Nigeria, said the demand for locally produced programmes in Nigeria led to the discovery of the local film industry.
Nigeria has become a continental leader in the film industry, thanks to the innovation of its domestic productions, which have become popular in the African media scene.
Igwe said the locally produced content, which has become popular, creating another phenomenon known as the Nollywood, was currently facing challenges sustaining the demand for its productions, even though production quality still remained below par.
Meanwhile, David Kimotho, the Operations Manager for K24, Kenya's latest entrant in the broadcast industry, has warned broadcasters to brace for major changes in the delivery of content and other media industry material.
"The whole landscape would change dramatically from the way people get the news and distribute it after the introduction of fibre optic cable broadcasting," he said.
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