BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Journalists should consider giving more solutions to the problems prevailing in the country in order to attract investments and help in creating more jobs.
This was said by Media Practitioner Nathie Gule, who made a presentation on Developmental Journalism during the World Press Freedom Day held at Mountain View Hotel in Mbabane. It was organised by the European Union (EU) in Eswatini, in collaboration with Swaziland Editors’ Forum.
Gule, who works with the EU Eswatini Coordinating Facility, remarked that it was important for the scribes to write stories that would give hope to the citizens. He said it was widely known that there were no jobs now, with the youth unemployment at around 48%, but journalists should be able to show jobs to the citizens.
He suggested that a balance needed to be seen in newspapers and other media outlets, where there would be good stories, together with those that could be deemed as bad. He viewed developmental journalism as something that encouraged participation from members of the public, especially when the developmental issues were being amplified in the media.
Gule also made an example of Eswatini coffee, which was being exported to Europe, as a result of the EPA agreement that was signed between countries including Eswatini and the EU. Developmental journalism, according to Gule, encouraged the recognition of progress in development and it encouraged accountability to those that are to bring development within a society.
He made an example of countries such as Rwanda, saying that the East-African land-locked country was seen as an African flagship country because of developmental journalism. He said the in Rwanda, a stand was taken to support developmental journalism and amplifying what was going right in that country. As a result, there was more funding, especially on health. He said in Morocco, developmental journalism encourage investments on green projects, while in Ethiopia, developmental journalism encouraged investment on women’s participation in agriculture.
