Building a new generation of digital journalists in Nigeria
How Hacks/Hackers Lagos is developing a storytelling knowledge network.
Newsrooms across Africa are embracing digital, but the skills required to ensure quality research, top class storytelling and online security are still few and far between. That’s the finding of the ICFJ’s first global survey of technology in modern newsrooms, and is a cause for concern as writers struggle to meet demand for copy without a full understanding of the medium they are working in.
As part of our mandate to strengthen the civic and newsroom tech ecosystem in our country, Code for Nigeria regularly interacts with media experts, journalists and freelancers via our civic media programs such as Hacks/Hackers Lagos (HHLOS) and the Story Lab Academy.
In our most recent event, for example, the HHLOS community gathered at the Civic Hive in Yaba Lagos Nigeria with 66 persons in attendance eager to Learn how to transform a spreadsheet into a story.
Amongst speakers present was Seun Onigbinde of BudgIT, one of the most important internet watchdogs in the country which reports on government spending.
Onigbinde admonished participants on accountability and transparency in the Nigerian journalism community as there is need to transform the media.
Some journalists still find it hard to combine data analysis and data journalism and do not post their stories online. They prefer to work with traditional media which is not sustainable in the long term, with an audience that has evolved hence, journalists need to be wary of improperly researched stories and lazy journalism. — Seun Onigbinde
Among the most successful projects for promoting digital literacy in newsrooms has been the Naija Data Ladies. This is an association of female journalists from newsrooms like Al Jazeera, The Nation, The Cable, amongst others — many of whom are also HHLOS members.
In order to help inspire those present, Flourish Chukwura and Yemisi Adegoke — both Naija Data Ladies had the opportunity to share their projects on the video and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Nigeria respectively.
The beauty of 360 journalism
Freelance multimedia journalist, Flourish Chukwura of 360 Journo, was present to sharing her learnings on how other journos can work better with 360-degree video cameras. She discussed her ongoing projects in some slums in Lagos state and how her immersive videos gave the story a more compelling feel. Chukwura’s most recent work has focussed on the problems affecting the community of Markoko.
Ongoing work on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Nigeria
Yemisi Adegoke, a journalist from The Guardian Newspapers, shared her experience with Nigerian females who have had their genitalia tampered with, in one form or the other
“We have the wrong impression that FGM is associated with illiterate and poor people,” Yemisi said, “ I came across medical doctors and very literate people who passionately believe in it. Their cultural beliefs trump their religious inclination.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the practice of FGM unhealthy and a violation of human rights.
High quality sheets
The challenge for many journalists is understanding how to interpret data when presented with a spreadsheet. Blaise Aboh, an innovation fellow with Code for Nigeria, led a masterclass in basic data analysis how to find the interesting parts of a sheet at a glance through simple visualizations.
Many young people don’t buy newspapers and have short attention span and prefer stories they can read on-the-go. — Blaise Aboh
Aboh also touched on the open data sources available, both locally within Nigeria and globally, for research. The difficulty in getting data fromdepartments and agencies of government as a result of the high-level of secrecy within the system was raised as a reoccurring challenge.
One of the solutions discussed was to do due diligence, keep probing and reporting these issues because most times, the data required comes from the officials in form of defence against our stories and the reporter’s aim would have been achieved.
And finally…
We’re looking forward to our December meetup on the 9th of December on fake news and fact checking which promises to be even more exciting with the presence of Naija Data Ladies scheme founder, Jacopo Ottaviani at our Christmas party.
See you there!
Story Credit: Osaro Esosa and Fumi Ishola
Photo Credit: Chris Udoma
The worlds of hackers and journalists are coming together, as reporting goes digital and Internet companies become media empires.
Journalists call themselves “hacks,” someone who can churn out words in any situation. Hackers use the digital equivalent of duct tape to whip out code.
Hacker-journalists try and bridge the two worlds. Hacks/Hackers Africa aims to bring all these people together — those who are working to help people make sense of our world. It’s for hackers exploring technologies to filter and visualize information, and for journalists who use technology to find and tell stories. In the age of information overload and collapse of traditional business models for legacy media, their work has become even more crucial.
Code for Africa, is the continent’s largest #OpenData and civic technology initiative, recognises this and is spearheading the establishment of a network of HacksHackers chapters across Africa to help bring together pioneers for collaborative projects and new ventures.
