Zimbabwe Network for Citizen Journalists (ZNCJ.ORG)
Background
ZNCJ.ORG is founded on the principles of empowering and capacitating the youth and citizens with digital skills and technology to amply their opinions, ideas to effectively tell stories about their communities.
Our mission is to empower the Citizens with digital skills and knowledge to shift negative narratives and stereotypes about their communities through story telling.
We Support Citizen Journalists with trainings through the ZNCJ.ORG Digital Rights Academy with short courses covering Digital Rights and Internet Democracy.
More so, we promote and support responsible use of the media to Youths across Zimbabwe in order to minimise the spreading of fake news and information that is harmful to the public.
We discovered that harmful and malicious media reports are dominating social media platforms, particularly unverified reports. This irresponsible use of the media is creating more harm than good and tarnishing the credibility of the media fraternity.
Anyone can be a citizen journalist; however we saw the need to educate and share tips on responsible use of media tools that are readily available on the world wide web.
Citizens are capturing newsworthy events as they happen and instantly sharing it online before mainstream media unpacks it for the public.
ZNCJ.ORG is an initiative created by journalists aimed at promoting ethical citizen journalism that is not harmful to the public.
We mobilize citizen journalist by creating a network where we share content and adhere to strict ethical journalism that respects the media laws of Zimbabwe and Press code.
What we do?
- We mobilize citizen Journalists in a network where we constantly share information and capacity building workshops for ethical citizen journalism and safety practices.
- We educate the public through online courses covering Citizen Journalism and Digital Rights in Zimbabwe.
- We publish real stories covered by citizen journalists after going through rigorous checks of ethical reporting and fact checking.
- We create platforms where citizen journalists can work with mainstream media outlets to share information.
- We also provide leads for journalists on contemporary issues to cover in order for them to monetize their content competitively.
- Since citizen journalism is a free space and does not adhere to strict editorial policy, we aim to provide information that adheres to the press code.
Our Objectives
- To empower the youth and citizens with digital skills to shift narratives through story telling.
- To promote responsible use of digital media.
- To promote best media practices in citizen journalism in Zimbabwe.
- To promote ethical exchange of information that is not harmful or malicious to the public.
Our mission
Our mission is to empower the youth and communities with digital skills to shift negative narratives and stereotypes about the communities through story telling.
Our activities
- We host capacity building workshops for citizen journalists on safe media practices.
- We help publish real stories told by citizen journalists after going thorough editorial checks of ethical reporting under creative commons licensing.
- We convene meetings on best media practices in citizen journalism and unpack opportunities for media journalists to monetize their content.
- We also provide mentorship in journalism as a career for young journalists.
More About us
We are a nonprofit organisation, seeking to promote ethical journalism among citizen journalists through providing the latest trends, research and journalism tips.
We promote and capacitate citizen journalists with the best safety practices in journalism.
We build capacity and responsible use of the media and create the bridge between mainstream media and citizen journalism.
We are not affiliated to any political party or government.
Funding
We are a donor funded organisation.
Organisation structure
1.President – Richard Matthew Kawazi
2. Vice President – Patience Chipuriro
3.Secretary General – Nomagugu Mawonde
4. Events coordinator – Denzel Nemhara
5. Content Director – Allen Gatawa
6. Research Desk and Fact Checker – Tafadzwa Muchanyangi