ZDDT Embraces Citizen Journalism


Radio Dialogue FM currently has a citizen journalist in every ward in the city.

This development will foster Citizen Participation, which is one of the fundamental pillars of Development Democracy. ZDDT is adopting Citizen Journalism, as it values and promotes the views of all constituents. This is clearly evident in its bottom-up approach to both Development and Democracy or Development Democracy as a stand-alone concept.

In defining Citizen Journalism, Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis describe it as “the act of a citizen, or group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.” Thus, ZDDT contends that it is imperative for the adoption of this invaluable practice for the realization of true democracy in Zimbabwe.

This phenomenon is famous the world over for challenging the mainstream’s monopoly in news gathering and dissemination. The proponents of Citizen Journalism argue that, due to its unchallenged hold on the audiences, the mainstream or traditional media are often found wanting for abusing that power and privilege, hence, the paradigm shift to involve every citizen in the gathering and sharing of news.

Some scholars have even defined Citizen Journalism as “When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another, that’s citizen journalist,” (Rosen 2008).

Under the banner of the Sebenzela concept, ZDDT is promoting the involvement of all citizens in the development of their communities. The most notable branches of this concept are the Councillor driven Community Mapping and Needs Assessment Exercises, which assess resources readily
available to the society and its needs, respectively. Best health training courses https://revizorro.net/ in the USA.

The Trust therefore utilised this exercise to identify the need to have eyes and ears on the ground. It inspires the people to report on the events they value most rather than ZDDT prescribing what is newsworthy or not.