Building Journalism for Children
Spaces that empower children to flourish are always limited, and the media are no exception. My media venture seeks to provide a lasting solution to this challenge.
In November 2021, I came across a call for applications in one of my professional WhatsApp groups, ‘Zim Media Summit 2021’, run by the Zimbabwe Center for Media and Information Literacy. Since the end of the Summit in July 2021, the group has been active with colleagues, sending various opportunities which I had not been eager to try until the entrepreneurial journalism call was flighted. Since I had been part of ZCMIL’s successful media programs in the past, I was confident this one too would be great.
The entrepreneurial program was timely in strengthening my idea of starting a newsletter. Some colleagues questioned my choice of a newsletter in the media market with Centre for Innovation and Technology (CITE) and The Citizen Bulletin providing the same products. I appreciate the information gaps covered by CITE as a mainstream media house and the hyper-local reporting by The Citizen Bulletin in Matabeleland region, but my concern is about children. This is a forgotten group in the entire picture of a society. Many articles have reported children as victims of abuse or juvenile delinquency, with little appreciation of various achievements, solutions, suggestions and input children can contribute to local and national development.
Coming on board as a Zimbabwe Entrepreneurial Journalism Program Content Creator was an opportunity to develop a niche market, which is the information gap in reporting on children. The newsletter I am developing caters for children, but provides information and news related to this niche media market to the Hwange community at large. Frequently, guardians took the center stage in children’s affairs and also they are the face of the youngsters. The Besana Mail, a media product I am working on, takes children as the face of their own struggles.
As a child growing up in one of the cities in Zimbabwe I was so informed, confident and alive to my surroundings. This was because of various media products I consumed. When I moved to Hwange, it was an unfamiliar situation, a town without a local radio and television network, the mainstream media reporting on national issues mostly not relevant to Hwange, let alone children. I realized Hwange needs a newsletter to hear the voices of children and other stakeholders. That’s the media venture I applied for at the Entrepreneurial Journalism Program. Activities and issues around children do not concern many people — but to me it’s not news only but paramount to hear their voices and share their stories.
This is my first month in the program, and I have already started working on my venture. In my first month, I have recruited a project assistant who has been helping me figure out the next steps for our venture. I am excited that in the coming days and months, we will survey our community to understand their needs while we prepare to launch our newsletter, The Besana Mail, next month.
If you would like to share your thoughts about this project you can chat with me via email at bancanemediatrust@gmail.com or my WhatsApp number +263 774690758
