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BULAWAYO — The shifting role of traditional news platforms from being primary sources of information to being sources of validation of already-consumed news leads the agenda at this year’s 5th edition of the Africa Journalism and Media Summit (AJMS).
The AJMS, formerly known as the Zimbabwe New Media Summit, is an annual congregation of stakeholders from the media, academia, government, civil society, and business organized by the Zimbabwe Centre for Media and Information Literacy (ZCMIL) in partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Zimbabwe office.
This year’s gathering to be held in Bulawayo runs from September 1 – 2 under the theme “Journalism and Democracy in a Post-News World: Promises and Perils.” Apart from the [Zimbabwe] Minister of Information, Publicity, and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa, the summit is headlined by top regional and international journalism experts and scholars working at the intersection of journalism, communities, and technology.
“Our summit is inclusive, collaborative, and interactive and enables participants from Zimbabwe and Africa in general, to exchange knowledge and ideas about the role journalism and media play in shaping our democracy while they map out strategies for building strong and resilient media institutions that foster a vibrant civil society,” the coordinator of the summit, Divine Dube, says.
“Unlike our 2021 virtual summit which explored existential challenges of COVID-19 on journalism, this year’s conference tackles ideological questions faced by the local media including whether journalism can move beyond news and provide value in a “post-news” world where tech platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and others continue to exert their influence on information ecosystems,” he adds.
Dube also says the conference explores survival tactics for independent and public media and ways through which local newsrooms can increase trust in journalism and ensure that misinformation and polarization do not permeate future spaces.
This year’s summit adopts a hybrid approach with a sizable number of delegates participating in person in line with existing COVID-19 preventive measures while the rest participate online. Remote delegates can follow the conference proceedings live on the Zimbabwe Centre for Media and Information Literacy Facebook page.
For more information please contact the undersigned:
Media Contact: Douglas Ncube +263 776446181 douglas@thecitizenbulletin.com