fraycollege hosted a workshop on the power of telling Africa’s stories. CEO, Paula Fray looked at best practices, the latest trends, the role of multi-media and social platforms in modern story telling. Using real case studies, they showed how to create stories that comfort, motivate, educate, and provoke audiences. The fraycollege webinar looked at how we tell Africa’s stories, how audiences consume stories, what stories to tell and how to give power to your stories. During the webinar two award-winning journalists, Chimwemwe Mikwala from Malawi and Veneranda Langa from Zimbabwe were interviewed.
1. BREAK THE MOULD
Paula Fray challenged participants to rethink the way African journalists tell their stories and to tell stories on different platforms, for example social media, using infographics and audiograms. Fray says it is advisable to tap into different audiences and find out where they find their news and consume the information they receive. “We are the generation than can rethink not only the stories we tell, but also where and how we tell them,” Fray said. She also suggested that journalists should determine whether the stories they are covering are representative of a bigger issue. “Make your audience care about the people you report on. Tell Africa’s untold stories about people’s lifestyles, what they eat and dress and especially about the youth and new businesses,” Fray said. She raised concern about the fact that only a few of these stories are currently told in the media and emphasised that online media has the power to achieve that goal.
Fray said the stories African journalists tell often do not meet the “so what” criteria. “Very often we have a better understanding of international politics and less understanding about events in our neighbouring countries. We need to appreciate our own stories in order for us to articulate the so what,” Fray said.
2. CREATE A PLATFORM FOR WOMEN
The webinar also focused on the issue of women and how their stories are covered in the African media. “Our stories are not full told if women do not have a platform to also share their stories,” Fray said. She called on the media to create that space and allow women to share their stories and ideas.
Fray says in order for the media to tell better stories about Africa, they need to understand their continent better. They also need to explore new avenues for storytelling.
3. TELL THE SAME STORY DIFFERENTLY IN AFRICA
Fray says in order for the media to tell better stories about Africa, they need to understand their continent better. They also need to explore new avenues for storytelling.
