Abstract

During the course of a year-long knowledge exchange initiative called the Networked News Lab, a small group of Kenyan journalists and a PhD researcher from the London School of Economics and Political Science sought to identify opportunities for collaboration between newsmakers and practitioners from the field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D). In almost every instance, the project failed to promote cooperation between the two groups, though it succeeded in highlighting the fundamental issues that separate them. Drawing from interviews, project documents and participant observation, this chapter describes the incompatibilities between the two communities and what they suggest about current efforts to strengthen journalism in Africa through the application of ICTs.

Highlights

  • The debate over journalism’s future has a unique complexion in Kenya, where dismay over mainstream coverage of recent national events has spurred many activists to place their hope in the ability of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) to perform the public service functions that have typically been provided by broadcasters and newspapers.Kenya is fertile ground for those who wish to experiment with the potential of ICTs to amplify citizen voices and to promote government accountability

  • While the failure of the Networked News Lab to facilitate collaboration between mainstream journalists and practitioners of ICT4D is attributable to mundane problems and happenstance, observations made in each case highlight some of the fundamental differences that separate the two groups, and raise questions about the assumptions underpinning strategies to promote stronger forms of journalism through the application of ICTs

  • ICT4D projects might be less susceptible to commercial pressures and to the distinct kind of political interference encountered at mainstream media, but they are constrained by a unique political economy, a product of their funding scheme and operational models

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Summary

Nicholas Benequista*

During the course of a year-long knowledge exchange initiative called the Networked News Lab, a small group of Kenyan journalists and a PhD researcher from the London School of Economics and Political Science sought to identify opportunities for collaboration between newsmakers and practitioners from the field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D). The project failed to promote cooperation between the two groups, though it succeeded in highlighting the fundamental issues that separate them. Drawing from interviews, project documents and participant observation, this chapter describes the incompatibilities between the two communities and what they suggest about current efforts to strengthen journalism in Africa through the application of ICTs

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