The Training That Was

What a Successful Training!!

A three-day-training on Investigative Internet Journalism has ended well with great success.

In today’s world where every profession and career faces a number of challenges Journalism is not left behind. Many journalists especially in Tanzania fail to use internet as one of the greatest source of information.

Many use just 30 per cent of the internet without knowing that it can offer different useful information.

In this training I have learned how to use Google and get narrowed information for exactly what I want for that specific feature story.

I have also learned how to link my stories to other websites and this is very important to any professional journalist as far as plagiarism is concerned. Many of today’s journalists publish materials without acknowledging where they got some information.

Also, I have learned how to create a blog, update and edit materials posted and link my blog to other blogs of the same content (in this case my fellow trainees).

I am going to use the skills I have learn in this training to tighten my career and become one of the successful young English journalists in the country.

Kudos to MISA- TANZANIA and the trainer, Mr. Peik Johansson. 

Coca Cola Should Act Responsibly in India

It is known as one of the biggest companies in the world. The fact that it is found in almost every country where it has provided employment opportunities to thousand of people is inevitable. Coca-Cola is being trusted and appreciated by many.

However, to some people somewhere in the world, Coca Cola is no longer a blessing but a curse.

In India, for about ten years the largest Coca-Cola plant is being accused of putting thousands of farmers out of work by draining the water that feeds their wells, and poisoning the land with waste sludge that the company claims is fertilizer.

The plant in the southern state of Kerala is designed to satisfy the demand for Coke in what has become the multinational company's fastest growing market.

But its huge demand for water is causing such damage to the local economy that the village council which had granted the company a license to operate is now demanding the plant's closure.

It is with no doubt that when the plant was set back in 1998, Kerala people and their local government were happy that finally development was coming their way as they became the host of the bottle plant.

But today, coconut groves and vegetable crops have had to be abandoned because of the lack of water because the plant is said to be consuming about 1m litters per day.

Out of a population of 33, 387, 677 million in the area just 141 are employed at the plant, with a further 250 as casual laborers but still the income they get can never be more worthy to the environmental degradation caused by the Coca-Cola Plant.

Local people say the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada has caused severe water shortages for their community. They have been campaigning against the factory for three years.

In April 2004 the local village council refused to renew the factory’s licence. The factory has remained shut down since then.

But this decision was overruled just a year later by Kerala’s high court, prompting the council to renew the licence for three months with 13 conditions. Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, Coke’s Indian arm, refused this conditional licence, claiming that the council is acting beyond its powers.

In the latest government data obtained by the India Resource Center, groundwaterlevels in Kala Dera have continued spiraling downwards, falling another 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) in just one year, between November 2009 and November 2010.

Coca-Cola’s bottling operations have had a spectacular impact on the groundwater resources in the area. In the 10 years before Coca-Cola started operations in Kala Dera (1990-2000), groundwater levels fell just 3.94 meters (12.9 feet). In the 10 years since Coca-Cola started operations (2000-2010), groundwater levels have plummeted 25.35 meters (83.2 feet)

With all these facts it is true that people and the environment are suffering big time as some capitalists gain more money in their bank accounts. It is time that Coca Coal should see the truth and walk the talk.

As the world believes in Coca Coal it is time for it to show what is called Corporate Social Responsibility especially to Kerala people.

                                     

Second Day in Class

As I get familiar with the class I tend to enjoy it very much. Today I have learnt a about searching for materials from google, maps, and also post them on the blog.

What I have liked about today's class is the lesson on how to improve the blog with different materials and get connected to other blogs. I also like the lesson in linking some sentences of the story or material published to the original website.

Searching about Kemboi, a Kenyan athlete was a good exercise and the lesson for me was to have so much material and be able to digest them and come up with six paragraphs for a commentary piece.

Kemboi should think twice

They say fame comes with bonus but not every bonus is positive, sometimes some people can emerge just to put one’s success done.

This has happened to Ezekiel Kemboi Cheboi, a Kenyan athlete winner of the 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2009 World Championships, the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Summer Olympics.

With Gold and Silver medals still Kemboi has not been able to stay far from scandals as Anne Njeri, a journalism student in Kenya alleged that the athlete attacked her when she declined his sexual advances in June this year.

Kenyans and people all over the world have taken the news differently even when the student decided to withdraw the charges willingly early this week.

It is with no doubt that Kemboi is a Kenyan Hero and some still believe that Njeri was used to destroy the athlete’s image. I think we are all speculating and she is the one who knows the truth.

My point is if Kemboi was really involved in the saga then he should find time and apologize to the young woman and he should not take this for granted because what goes around comes around.

Different newspapers in Kenya have reported that Njeri experienced a lot of suffering to herself and her family,who had felt ostracized from the community after bringing up the case againsttheir track ‘hero’.

However, being a hero does not mean harassing other people (if he did so). I think Kemboi who is a serving police officer in Eldoret should find a one on one section with Njeri and solve the matter at a family level and in a friendly way.

-Ends-

Day One with the team

First I must admit that the training is very interesting. On the first day we learnt how to create a blog and post information or materials on the blog.

This first day went well as we started with introducing ourselves, knowing where we all come from and a little bit background of everyone in the training programme.

What I like about this training is that it is intensive and hands-on. The trainer is willing to help any trainee even individually, one on one training for some minutes makes it better.

The first day has given me an opportunity to learn how to post material on my blog but also how to search for information through google. Sometimes we search for material and then we fail to get exactly what we are looking for. The trainer taught how to narrow the search and get what we are looking for.

Some of the assignments that we did are searching for different people, like President of Mali, searching for Tanzania National Park's contacts and the best scorer in the Barclay's Premier Leaugue.

Some of the search tips we learned about were to command google to give you the results for the past one week, a month, a year or even specific dates.

Journalism Training

My name is Erick Mchome. I am a print journalist in Tanzania and currently working for Mwananchi Communications in Dar es Salaam as a Features Writer with The Citizen Newspaper.

This week I am attending an Internet Investigative Journalism organized by MISA-TAN with the Cooperation of Finish Embassy in Dar es Salaam.

From this training I expect to learn more about searching materials from the internet but also use internet as a source for different background information that I will need to back up my stories. This will also help me to see ideas done outside my region and localize them for my local readers.