21 Century Journalist

Training the next generation of journalists........ PROGRESS OF JOURNALISM SCHOOLS AND DIGITALIZATION

Not so long ago, the business model for television networks around the world was simple: produce programs, broadcast them across a national network of owned and affiliated stations to a mass audience, and sell access to audience and advertisers based on viewership.

Today however, the situation is much more complex and is likely to become more complex. What was previously considered “television content” is now received by anybody, piped on demand over the Internet, downloaded to mobile devices and syndicated around the globe. Such changes are having a profound effect on the structure, dynamics and the future of the global broadcast television industry, both private and public.

To crown it all DIGITAL TRANSITION IS GOING ON ALL AROUND THE WORLD. How prepared are you to meet the challenges, how equipped are you to tackle digitalization and its brother, globalization?

The aim is to meet “the pressing demand for skilled, can-do digital journalists on network television, cable, and the Internet”.

The setback is,“do we have qualified people teaching others" is it people who can not explain Podcasting in simple English, or people who haven't heard of webisode, iPhone, iPod, iTunes, mobisode, Twitter, youtube, tagged, amongst others?

As the world is moving so should journalism of all profession should move with it if not ahead. Nowadays, employees don't look at your certificate(especially in Nigeria). A first class graduate is just one of the so many people that passed out of the university because they are aware that the World is now ahead of the class which use to be the reverse before now.

As journalist, do not allow you lecturers to teach you what use to be in their days, try and see what your counterparts in other parts of the world are up to and try to measure up. The world is moving at a jet speed, if you don't join the race you will be left behind with the oldies.


Twenty-First Century Skills needed by Journalists

1. Digital Age Literacy—Today’s Basics

Basic, Scientific, and Technological Literacy.

Visual and Information Literacy

Cultural Literacy and Global Awareness


2. Inventive Thinking—Intellectual Capital

Adaptability/Managing Complexity and Self-Direction

Curiosity, Creativity and Risk-taking

Higher Order Thinking and Sound Reasoning

3. Interactive Communication—Social and
Personal Skills

Teaming and Collaboration

Personal and Social Responsibility

Interactive Communication


4. Quality, State-of-the-Art Results

Prioritizing, Planning, and Managing for Results

Effective Use of Real-World Tools

High Quality Results with Real-World Application

If you have the above listed Skills, then you are ahead of the world, otherwise............

United Bank For Africa

It all started on the 25th of April when my boss wrote me my salary cheque. I am using Intercontinental Bank while the cheque was for UBA. That didn't matter as long as it will take three days before i get it and it fall right on a good day.

Shock was what i experienced when i got to intercontinental bank and i was told i can't catch the cheque in the bank i need to go to UBA, withdraw the money then come and pay the money into my account.

That was not a problem but opportunity in disguise immediately, i concluded to use the salary to open a UBA savings account account instead of having to catch and pay in every month. Hmm..... when i got to UBA the jamb questions were too much. To open a savings account you need either of the following
1) A driver's license
2) International passport
3) National Identity card

The last time i checked, banks are not for the elite who can drive cars and travel around the world or those who can read and write. The bank is suppose to be for everybody to keep their money after all it is this money that they use in there transactions, so why the stress.

So because i had none of those things i could not open the account i eventually had to catch the money and spend it within days.
To make matter worse the LASU ID card with me was also denied because my signature was not on it but that of the Registrar was there. Then i beging to wonder what this world is turning to.

MY LASU ID CARD

Identity Cards are signpost of who you presently are. They help other recognize your presence in an environment. My lasusoc ID card is for decoration. How am i suppose to won an ID Card that does not have my signature on it.

Accept the fact that the ID Card was from our on line courses registration that does not mean they IT operators can get our previous signature digitalized like the registrar's and place where it is supposed to be.

My lament is not for two things but for the insult i received when i went to two banks in Nigeria; UBA and Intercontinental to open an account and i was told the school ID Card it not recognised without my signature. And this is suppose to be our signpost to what we represent, will someone scream what lasusoc student represent to me even with there digital online ID Cards.

My LASUSOC

Lagos State University, Adebola Adegunwa School of Communication, located at 21, Olufemi off Nathan Street, Surulere is a university where i thought i will get all takes to be a Mass Communication Graduate, specialised in Radio and Television Broadcast but no. The course title are the same every where but the way and pattern in which we receive them are different. For instance, most campuses have jstor (jstor.com) Internet access; an online educational library, which is not visible in LASUSOC, i am not trying to bring it down but i just bump into something i never knew exists. I know we have a studio and the President has approved our Radio License but it doesn't end there. We need more than that, we can't go for an interview with our counterparts from other schools and the interviewers start wondering if we ever lived on earth.
It all started when i went for a job interview in a private company; Datasphir Solutions Limited, a company specialised in Education and ICT consultancy. i was asked some questions and believe me my face was blank and the interviewer was like are you not studying Mass Communication?, Mass Communication is not all about Radio, Television and Newspaper alone, it entails more. You need to make the Internet your home and your first teacher. what ever you look for on the Internet now, in this age and you can't get it, then it is not real.
Would you believe the owners of the firm are not IT Professionals by training, but they are both gurus in IT world. They never went to a computer school like i was doing when i met them and what inspired this message.
When i started visiting the Internet i realised i have missed more than i could ever imagine unlike my counterparts in other nations, words like blogging, computer savvy, tweeter, facebook are not strange to them rather it is their lives. Honestly ask an average Mass Communication Student in Nigeria especially those in Journalism department (photo or print), Radio and Television Broadcast what is blogging and you get a blank face like my boss got from me.
My two bosses do not believe in paper qualification especially when it's from Nigeria. They believe there are only two things that can move you forward in life and what most employers will look for in an employee; 1)Luck, if you've got any. 2) Skill which you must build on your own, with little help from others after observing your determination. If you don't have any of those two but certificate (paper) and nothing to deliver while standing on your feet then you are on your own.
One of my bosses is doing something which i believe should interest you and should be of advantage to you my fellow Mass Communication Student, try visiting www.avnn.org.ng it is a website for Mass Communication student all over the world.
I write this because i have just realised that the world is changing, no sorry has changed from pen and paper to keyboard and monitor.
so, my fellow LASUSOCites and Mass Communicators, don't wait for your lecturer to tell you to start living on the Internet, you have to go and make the best of yourselves.
MY words for you is that when you subscribe in yourself you get the most of what you want in life.