BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI
Bulawayo will next month host the fifth edition of the Africa Journalism and Media Summit (AJMS), which seeks to shift role of traditional news platforms from being primary sources of information to being sources of validation.
In a press statement, the summit’s coordinator Divine Dube said AJMS) will bring together stakeholders from the media sector, academia, government, civil society and businesses to discuss the latest trends in the media under the theme “Journalism and Democracy in a Post-News World: Promises and Perils.”
“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 plays in shaping our democracy while they map out strategies for building strong and resilient media institutions that foster a vibrant civil society,” Dube said.
“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 the conference will explore survival tactics for independent and public media and ways through which local newsrooms can increase trust in journalism and ensure that misinformation and polarisation do not permeate future spaces.
The summit will run from September 1 to 2.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services minister Monica Mutsvangwa is expected to officiate at the summit where media experts and scholars working at the
intersection of journalism, communities and technology will also take part.