Solomon Serwanjja to Discuss Citizen Journalism on Day 1 of the Uganda Social Media Conference Tomorrow

Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information”, at least that is what Wikipedia calls it and we are sure most of you whether at Campus or during the elections, did some part of citizen journalism.

As it turns out, and in the wake of the Fake News pandemic, this type of journalism is seriously threatening media houses and complicating the measures that were put in place to weed out and check fake news by ensuring only authentic feed.

Tomorrow at the 2021 Uganda Social Media Conference organised by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Uganda and South Sudan, BBC Komla Dumor Award winning investigative journalist Solomon Serwanjja will join a team of other experts in the media to break down citizen journalism and the speace, if any, it has in the traditional newsroom.

In the topic titled “Citizen Journalism vs Digital Newsrooms: Building a Consensus for New Media” the team will discuss the concept of Citizen Journalism and the rise of bloggers and mushrooming online media houses that is the current trend in Uganda and the rest of the world.

Moderated by Denis Nabende, the URSB Corporate Affairs Manager, the panel discussion will on top of Solomon Serwanjja feature Allan Chekwech, the Co-Head Production Hub at Nation Media Group, Patience Atuhaire a BBC Reporter, and Blanshe Musinguzi, a Journalist.

Registration and attendance of the conference is free of charge and to register, follow the guidelines below;

1. Open the URL https://socialmedia.ug/ on your browser.
2. From the menu provided, select ‘Register’ to continue.
3. From the registration portal, enter the required details and click ‘Register’.
4. An email will be sent to your registered email and it will contain the ‘Webinar ID’ and ‘Password’ for the event.

A total of 7 topics will be covered tomorrow as Day 1 of the conference .

1. Keynote speech from Dr. William Tayeebwa.
2. Digital Diplomacy: The rise of algorithms and implications for big tech in African Institutions,
3. Governments, and Individuals.
4. Impact of social media on mental health: Hitting the pause button.
5. Re-framing the climate change agenda on social media.
6. Citizen journalism vs digital newsrooms: Building a consensus for new media.
7. Social media and Elections in Africa.