Elvira van Noort was very excited to see her former professors at the University of Eutrect; it was great they were here to witness how she has "grown up" and busy training citizen journalism in Grahamstown. I almost went to the table to say hello to the professors; given her excitement.

Elvira represents many journalists who are meeting at the same venue with their former lecturers attending the World Journalism Educators Congress, a parallel meeting with Highway Africa.

It is the first time that such a meeting is taking place; so when people complain about the standards of journalism, you can turn to the educators and find out whats going on; at the same time, educators can turn and question journalists on what happened to all the lessons and massive notes given in class.

For a conference that is usually held in September and had few scholarships given the world cup pricing of everything, Highway Africa is very attended and the interaction with the educators is likely to have positive effects.

The corporate sector also turned up as usual; MTN, Telkom and Multichoice are here with huge stands. One of the sessions had the corporates and Nozipho January-Bardill from MTN was asked about the stories she thinks journalists should be covered.

Her answers boiled down to the usual stuff of positive and detailed stories; she gave the example of a BBC documentary on Oliver Tambo and wonders why SABC had not done it. The upshot was that the reason people switch to international channels is mainly because of the depth of reportage.

For the next three days, there will be interactions and discussions on some of the challenges affecting journalism and the continent. There will be no shifting blame because the journalists, educators, public and private sector are there to defend or expound on the status quo.

Ends

Long before Kenya was connected via fiber optic, we were used to the slow internet. We were used to waiting 10 minutes before attaching a file, and we were ok with that.

I remember this friend who could always whine whenever in Nairobi, complaining about the slow internet and I always suggested that "if you cant get used to it, pay more money or go back to your country."

But its totally understandable to be frustrated if you are used to the fast internet and you go to a place where sending an email or uploading a blog post is a futile exercise. You can get petulant and thats bad.

Just ask Henry Addo, a developer at Ushahidi, he thinks that the fast internet in Nairobi and availability of free wifi hotspots has spoilt me. I am getting frustrated with the connectivity at the Kofi Annan center and my hotel connectivity is not good either.

Henry has made a point of smiling every time, saying that I should get used to it and I cant remember when I last wrote a post that says am happy with the many fiber optic cables in East Africa.

So, as Ghana waits for Glo or main one cables to land, I think the frustration of Sat-3 will continue.

That is why we need to be happy that our connectivity woes have eased a bit in Nairobi, you have to come to Accra to appreciate that!

This week, I received a media invite from the Nation Media group about accreditation for the Pan African Media Conference. They were asking for $150 for journalists to cover the event.

I read the email again, it was not to participate, but to cover the event, you know, the journalists that come in just for the speeches by the big wigs. Before I could digest the shock, another email came, rectifying the figure to Kshs 2,500 (about $30); but I was still in a shock.

I was in shock because I know media houses have been against charging journalists to cover events. Think about management/motivational events that many people pay lots of money to attend but journalists get in free.

I was once asked for advice by someone organizing a management talk on those tips they did not teach you at Harvard Business school and i was against journalists paying a fee just to cover the event.

So, why is the Nation Media Group asking other media houses to pay in order to cover the event?

I was with some other tech journalists in the morning and we were joking that because the Nation is so big, they can afford to cover the event on their own, across all the platforms.

For others, it was a way for the Nation to get all the scoops by ensuring that they cover everything and lock out the others.

Anyway, I am sure the fee is not that much and other media houses can pay but will it be fair to ask other event organizers to allow journalists in free when other media houses charge accreditation fee?

By the way, the meeting has allowed some bloggers free, so will this be the first case where social media has trumped mainstream media?

Read the email sent below...

RE: PAN AFRICAN MEDIA CONFERENCE JOINTLY ORGANISED BY NATION MEDIA GROUP & AFRICA MEDIA INITIATIVE

We are pleased to invite you to cover the 2010 Pan African Media Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference with the theme, Media and the African Promise is a collaboration of the Africa Media Initiative and the Nation Media Group and will be held from the 18th-19th March 2010 at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre. The event will reflect on the African media’s past, present and prospects for the future against the challenges of a dynamic globalised environment. The conference has been organised to commemorate Nation Media Group’s 50th Anniversary since the first copy of the Daily Nation rolled off the press.

This conference will draw attendance from leading media professionals from all over the African continent, speakers representing industry and policy development, as well as academic scholars and thinkers from the global media arena. The forum will encourage contribution and development of robust policy related to the operation and development of media in Africa.

Participants will explore issues ranging from the advent of citizen journalism where audiences generate and publish news using popular online platforms and new media such as SMS, MMS, MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube, to the role of media and civil society in solving Africa’s challenges, to governance democracy and other perspectives, to the emergence of a global media culture, to reporting change and crisis in Africa, and saving the African environment among others.

We have a great line-up of speakers including: H.E. Joaquim Alberto Chissano, former President of Mozambique, H.E. John Agyekum Kufuor, President of the Alliance, and former President of Ghana, Dr. Hussein Amin, Professor and former chair of Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Cairo, Achim Steiner Acting on the nomination of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Dr. Mohamed "Mo" Ibrahim, Sudanese-born British mobile communications entrepreneur, Professor Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and Mr. David Dadge, Director of the International Press Institute(IPI among others.

We invite you to cover the conference. For purposes of accreditation please send a list of the print, broadcast and photo journalists who will cover the event by Friday 12th March to Wanjiru Waithaka at the conference secretariat (wwaithaka@nation.co.ke). For each journalist we will require two (2) passport size photos, an official letter confirming he or she has been assigned to cover the event by your organization and accreditation fee of USD150 (or Sh10,000) payable in advance.

Follow-up email

Dear all,

With regard to the invitation below please note that the accreditation fee has been reduced to Sh2,500 PER journalist.

Regards,

Ends

I am sure for many people accessing information online, all you want is knowledge and for some it does not matter how you get it- its just information.

Some may ask; so what if they picked it from one site and reproduced it on another?

Well, am usually a bit liberal, I allow people to just pick from my blog so long as they honor the source but a news organization such as www.computerworld.co.ke has its own rules on that.

So, whats the problem?

Well, for most news sites, they pride themselves in giving you first-hand information written by their analysts and all that. They pay those analysts to write because they have to make calls this and that.

So, what happens when one site copy-pastes your work and does not want to admit it, using flimsy excuses to get away with it. If it was just a matter of sharing info, why not just share the link and let people go to that other site?

For instance; this article on IT News Africa plagiarized my work, but they defended themselves saying that they quoted The Citizen in Tanzania, which first plagiarized the work.

This is how our email conversations went:

Rebecca

Dear Editor,

I think its rude that you picked from my story and did not care to mention it. While the stuff may have come from Telkom Kenya, I am the only one who talked to Nekessa and the quote in this story http://www.itnewsafrica.com/?p=5552 is similar to this one http://www.computerworld.co.ke/articles/2010/02/11/telkom-kenya-wants-users-jail-broken-phones-prosecuted

Unless you have a way to convince me otherwise.......

From a news organization, I think you ought to do better.

I need an apology...

RESPONSE

Hi Rebecca,

As per introduction, I am Denisa Oosthuizen, editor at ITNewsAfrica.com. We have used the article from The Citizen as a source, here is the link http://thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=17517.

In the future we could use your services directly, should you wish to do so.

Denisa Oosthuizen

Online Editor

MY RESPONSE

Hi,

I dont write for Citizen and if your defense is that since Citizen plagiarized then it's ok....don't you find it odd?

For a long time I thought IT news is a credible site, but just compare the two pieces and my work was not honored

FOLLOW-UP

Hi Rebecca,

Denisa brought this to my attention. As stated in her email, we got the story from The Citizen and gave credit to the source in our story.

Without prejudice - I have instructed her to add your name as a source.

I hope you will continue to think highly of us.

Best Regards


A. Wakama
Publisher

MY RESPONSE

I find the excuse lame; just because Citizen plagiarized that should make it ok?

WAKAMA REPLY

What do you want Madam???

Just notice the question marks on the question, am not sure whether am supposed to be scared or intimidated, I was wronged, not the other way round, the arrogance just baffled me, I did not get even an apology.

So, my question still stands, just because Citizen Plagiarized first, does that make it right?

Ends