By Enock Sithole
Over 300 journalism, media and communication scholars, practitioners and students, met in Dar es Salaam at the end of August for the 14th annual conference of the East African Communication Association (EACA), to discuss artificial intelligence (AI), among other topics under the theme: Africa and the global dialogue on media and communication.
The conference held at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) had a representation from 25 countries from all over the world. The delegates listened to presentations from various speakers on the subjects relating to AI, investigative journalism, climate change communication, sustainable development among other topics.
The Dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UDSM, Dr Mona Ngusekela Mwakalinga highlighted the importance of networking and knowledge exchange among academics during such events.
A representative from Microsoft presented on ways to approach and learn to use AI and how to deal with misinformation and deepfakes.
Other speakers on the subject of AI, included professors Kaarle Nordenstreng and Ullamaija Kivikuru from the Universities of Helsinki and Tampere, in Finland. They all emphasised that AI was a reality, hence the need for everyone to learn how to use these technologies.
Prof. Kaarle Nordenstreng (Universities of Helsinki) and Prof. Ullamaija Kivikuru (Tampere University)
Jenerali Ulimwengu, a seasoned journalist and advocate of the High Court in Dar es Salaam, decried the demise of investigative journalism in the East African media. He said, journalists no longer probe issues, but merely report them as presented to them by politicians and government echelons.
“What we are doing so far in East Africa is PR (Public Relations), rather than journalism – because we report what we are told by institutions, corporates or government and don’t dig deep to investigate the truth”. He added that when journalists write the stories, they “don’t say it was alleged, but simply take the information as supplied by the source such as the police”, said Jenerali Ulimwengu.
Representing the Secretary General of the East African community (EAC) at the closing ceremony, the Director of Human Resource and Administration, EAC, Ms Ruth Mtoi Simba, committed to working with EACA in several areas including media education and training.
This article was originally published by the Ajen newsletter