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The Panos Institute, Washington, DC, working in partnership with the Independent Journalism Centre, Lagos, organized a three-day workshop on Computer-Assisted Research and Reporting (CARR) on November 16-18, 1999 at Excellence Hotel and Conference Centre, Ogba, Lagos. Twenty-seven journalists drawn from different print and electronic media houses across the country attended the workshop: Three prominent editors invited themselves. The central objective of the workshop was to introduce Nigerian journalists to the world of computer technology and its use in reporting and research. The program was however reworked to reflect the new reality on the ground. This was the first workshop of its type in the country. It was therefore greeted with a lot of enthusiasm and support from media houses, managers, and journalists. It was significant that editors of three prominent media houses later contacted the organizers seeking support to hold in-house CARR sessions training for their own staff. The newly formed International Press Center (IPC) also sought collaboration for such training sessions. The three-day workshop focused on the core challenges of using the PC and the Internet to write news reports, and to generate on-line databases to add value to and help deepen news reports/analysis. Other important technical aspects such as file transfer mechanisms and the possibilities for amassing data electronically to support human rights campaigns were also emphasized. Sessions were held on software, hardware, and the use of Email/ World Wide Web, and on the broader uses of sourcing materials and people on-line. The CARR resource team was made up of Dapo Olorunyomi, senior fellow at Panos Institute, who led the workshop on the word processing challenges for reporting and researching; Mr. Larry Siems, Director, Pen Center [West], USA, who conducted the workshop on databases and the responsibility of journalists working with data; and Mr. Tope Fashedemi, a system engineer at Hyperia Systems Limited, a leading Internet service provider in Lagos, led the workshop to an appreciation of the progress and development in Nigeria's Internet environment. Mr. Lekan Adesanya and Debo Ayodele, two young computer engineers, helped with the "hands on" training. The first session, basically an introductory meeting focussed on issues around the development of the Internet in Nigeria. The session, anchored by Mr. Fashedemi, stressed on the challenges arising from constraints that currently hinder the growth of the Internet. He called on journalists to take leadership in the on going debate to democratize the new national communication policy through which, he said, the new government is trying to smuggle in old practices under which the media had been shackled. "The Nigerian media fought a titanic battle in the 90s and it would be tragic to fold our hands while the government reverses the gains from that battle" he said. He identified the creeping monopoly in the telecommunication sector of the economy and the restrictive government policies as two dangers in the Internet environment that he predicted could slow down the development of the Internet. Fashedemi explained that most of the existing Internet service providers in Nigeria are performing under harsh conditions. He stressed that the conditions are made unfriendly by instability in political, economic and social policies of a government that is not supportive of free access to information and human rights development. He proposed measures to increase media awareness of the Internet and its effect saying education and open access policy will be the keys for this crusade. Participants wanted answers on: * How to create expanded access to the Internet [A hearty debate was generated on the need to create public access points as in the case of public libraries. This was seen as a means to bypass the present prohibitive cost of establishing Internet accounts in Nigeria] *How to make telephone affordable to media establishments and journalists. The prospect of wireless microwave telephony was discussed and the IJC was urged to seek sources of funding to make such a service available to journalists. *How to restrain the urge by the government, in its polices, from hindering the growth of the Internet. As one of the participants remarked, "We shall all be the collective losers if NITEL [the Nigeria Telecommunication Limited] is allowed to hold its monopoly by other means, in fact the gains that the Internet promises in the education and health sectors will be lost."
Larry Siems led the session with an eloquent exploration of the powers and effects of Internet as an instrument for human rights and advocacy campaigns. These are provinces that will enrich the sources of media people he said. His presentation also touched on how the Internet is currently blurring the boundaries of privacy and freedom of expression. In seeking for more information about people, places and events, the internet offers itself as a great tool, something media people salute, but its capacity to threaten the privacy of citizens is also profound and much more than any previous medium of information. The challenge is to use the tool with responsibility and care, he said. Bringing his background as a former program staff of Human Rights Watch and his experience as a writer [Larry is a published poet and a contributor to The Nation, Los Angeles Times and the New Yorker magazine] to bear on the theme of the day, Siems gave several tips on how the Internet can be useful to journalists as an investigating tool and in other endeavors.
Participants were shown a twenty-six minute documentary on the Rwanda genocide, followed by a review and discussion on the professional issues arising from the film. Dapo Olorunyomi took the participants on a guided tour of how the Internet can be used and abused in the preparation, research, investigation and the writing of a report like this. Using three key themes: Actors, Context and Events, the presenter illustrated how the Internet could affect the outcome of the interactions between these thematic levels in the context of news writing and editing. Participants were then shown how the Internet enriches the goal of research on people and places. They were however warned to be cautious of the dangers of uncritical use of materials from the Internet. "To be good online journalists, we must be careful to acknowledge that just as there are good materials on the Internet, there are also tons and tons of unmediated information which are probably lies or half-truths. So we must never lose faith in the old and traditional requirement for relentless fact-checking in our reports" participants were told.
Participants were introduced to the structure of the computer, and the value of CAR. A general tour of the landscape that defines writing, storage, retrieval of materials, formatting, and editing on a computer were rigorously tackled during the hands-on session. The session also discussed the daily decisions to be made on software needs and application tools. It was a very exciting session for most of the participants who were seeing themselves anew in the context of the fresh experience of using new tools for the first time to do what they had done for ages through old methods. The participants were allowed straight hours of hands-on demonstration and practice on different types of exercises.
Participants were introduced to the world of database: how they are prepared, configured and used to support reports and how they could enhance analysis; how useful they are for the newsman and how to go to the most useful data sites for story ideas. A friendly debate ensued at this point on how to develop a database that can support and strengthen local media needs. Someone asked, "How could the media play a fully professional role in holding political, economic and cultural leaders accountable when a reliable database that can support the practice is lacking?" This question led to other questions. "Without a commitment to a fact-based reporting, and access to facts, how can the media be a reliable influence in the campaign for human and political rights? Is fact-based reporting not predicated on a reliable database? Would the IJC/Panos initiative be willing to help in this regard?". Participants were told that Panos and the IJC are actively seeking support for the development of such media databases in Nigeria. Participants suggested that at least three and preferably four such data centers/libraries should be created to ensure a broad national spread in the south and northern parts of the country.
The session was devoted to introducing participants to the Internet, familiarizing them to the provinces of the E-mail, taking them through the mechanics of mailing lists and Usenet, and wetting their feet in the waters of the WWW, and issues related to Internet security. It was a practical session in strategic searching on the net and a hands-on guide to understanding the various search engines and the search principles that could yield quick and valuable results. The search engines were also discussed in relation to the development of sources and the management of those sources. Participants used this opportunity to further discuss in some details the evaluation of information on the Internet. At the end of the session participants learnt how to create personal E-mail accounts through ISPs that offer free accounts like Yahoo, hotmail, FreeInet etc
The workshop closed on the 3rd day with participants issued certificates of participation. Participants also expressed their gratitude to Independent Journalism Center and The Panos Institute for giving then the opportunity to be exposed to the amazing world of computers and its importance to the reporting and editing processes of journalism.
All the participants completed a form evaluating the content, objective/focus, conduct and leadership of the workshop. On the whole, participants commended the organization of the workshop and expressed appreciation for the topics covered. In the words of Mrs. Coker, who spoke on behalf of the participants, "I believe that most of us will consider ourselves very luck here today for this wonderful opportunity. I think I say this on behalf of everybody here that we are now mini-experts in the area of CARR and we shall want to keep this group going by regular meetings and exchange of ideas". Participants thought the topics were helpful in providing them a basic hold on the issues involved in CARR, but they hope that future workshops would afford them opportunity to have books that they could keep to deepen their self-development. Participants expressed appreciation at the hands-on method used in the workshop and commended the resource persons for their patience and persistence in putting across the points.
All the participants to the workshop were invited by the IJC except for the three senior editors who requested to sit in to see how CARR could affect the restructuring of their newsrooms. Of the thirty who attended, slightly over half were from Lagos, home of seventy percent of Nigeria's registered publications and journalists. Sadly, only eight of the thirty were women, although we invited more. The great majority of participants came from the print media, as this is where the project was focused and where IJC's network is strongest. Those planning CARR workshops should make a special effort to attract more journalists from the broadcast media, more women and more representatives from outside the southwest. We would also suggest including representatives of human rights organizations and other advocacy groups if CARR skills are important to support their campaigns.
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