By Omolara Akintoye
In the fast-paced, technology-driven world we live in, digital skills have become more than just a luxury – they are now a necessity. With the rapid evolution of technology and its increasing impact on our daily lives, upscaling digital skills can open doors to numerous opportunities and benefits.
This no doubt calls for journalists to maximize the digital space by stepping up their skills, thereby growing their career.
These among others, were the submission at a One-day Capacity Building workshop titled ‘Maximising New Media Platforms’ organised by Step- Up for Women In Journalism Initiative (SWIJ) with support from Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) and Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Rivers State Chapter and held in Port Harcourt, Thursday.
The training according to the team Lead for SWIJ, Ann Godwin, in her address is targeted at scaling up the digital skills of journalists especially female reporters to enable them grow their professional competence and match with their international counterparts.
Her words ‘the era where journalists rely on their years of practice, experience and unnecessary competition for successful practice is gone.
The workshop today is targeted to improve our skills. We are now in an Artificial intelligence (AI) generation.
Considering the dynamic nature of the media industry today, you can agree with me that a lot is changing. It is no longer the way it used to be many years back. There is a lot of new things happening and you need to scale up’ said Mrs Godwin.
She therefore tasked journalists to step up, align and grow their career in order not to be left behind.
On his part, a digital expert, Paul Chimodo, also charge journalists, especially veterans to scale up their digital skills to enable them improve their career prospects and earning potentials .
Chimodo who noted that ego has prevented some veteran journalists from upscaling their digital skills, said many are stuck in old fashion media practice, staving them off from reaching their full potentials and becoming visible in the present new media era.
Dr. Ijeoma Tubosia teaching participants the art of Turban hat making
“Most journalists do not know how to maximise the new media platforms yet. Ego and pride is not allowing them to learn digital tools from the young generation. This is the major reason they are where they are and it’s not helping to build and improve professional competence in this new media era, ” Chimodo stated.
Chimodo highlighted the importance of digital tools in today’s journalism practice, emphasizes the need for training and retraining to meet up with current demands of the job.
He also pointed out that social media has made it easier for journalists to collaborate on stories with other journalists, photographers, and videographers. He said collaborations can help journalists reach a wider audience, tell more complex stories, and provide a more comprehensive perspective on events.
Chimodo listed some ways journalists can utilize digital tools to include; Live streaming, Facebook/Instagram stories, Twitter threads, Podcasts.
Highpoint of the workshop, was training on entrepreneurial skills by Dr. Ijeoma Tubosia, a broadcast journalist and an entrepreneur.
Tubosia, who trained participants on Turban hat making, emphasized the need for women journalists to learn skills and have multiple sources of income in order to meet up with the economic demands in the country.
On her part, Constance Mega, a broadcast journalist with Nig Info, Port Harcourt, who spoke on ‘Enhancing Speaking Skills’, said constant rehearsals, practicing will improve their speaking skills.
