Kuwepo kwa migogoro ya ardhi na vitendo vya imani za kishirikina ni moja ya sababu zinazoyagharimu maisha ya wanawake vikongwe kuuwawa kwa kukatwa mapanga  mkoani simiyu ,hivyo jeshi la polisi limekemea na kuitaka jamii kuanzisha daftari la wageni kwa kila kijiji ili kuwabaini wanaoingia na

Waandishi wa habari  hawana budi kutumia kalamu zao katika kuwafichua watu wanaondelea kuwafanyia ukatili wa kijinsia watoto wa kike na wanawake kwa kuwashushia vipigo na kuwasababishia ulemavu wa  maisha.

Rai hiyo ilitolewa  jijini mwanza na mkurugenzi wa UTPC Bw. Abubakari karsan wakati akifungua mafunzo ya waandishi wa habari kutoka mikoa mitano ya kanda ya ziwa ,ambayo yameandaliwa na chama cha waandishi wa habari wanawake tanzania  Tamwa,ikiwa ni mikakati ya kupambana na ukatili wa kijinsia hapa nchini.

Karsan Alisema kuwa dhima ya vyombo vya habari  katika vita  dhidi ya uovu wa ukatili wa kijinsia  ukiachwa bila kushughulikiwa unaweza kuvunja mshikamano wa kijamii hali ambayo inaweza kuleta mparanganyiko wa taifa, na hivyo kuwaomba waandishi wa

MAFUNZO YA INTANETI KWA WAANDISHI WA MKOA WA MARA.

Baadhi ya waandishi wa habari mkoani Mara wakiwa katika mafunzo ya intaneti.

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Day

Three days of training on investigative internet journalist has reached the end. On this third day of training we were given an assignment to write a short commentary about one of the three topics: Shell in Nigeria, China and Africa as well as Coca-Cola in India". It has been very tough and tight job as all participants spent the whole day doing a same assignment. This was useful to me because I used much time searching for information needed in my assignment as a part on my training. 

In general the training has been a very interesting for me as I grasp new experience through interaction with my colleague. The most interesting and new topic for me was the investigative websites and to add link in blog posting. 

The speech of Chairman of MISA Tanzania Mohammed Tibanyendera in closing of training was very touching for me. He has argued journalists, lawyer and other activists to work together to fight for media freedom in our country. 

I would like to thank MISA Tanzania and the facilitator Mr. Peik for their good job they has been done for Tanzanian journalists on Internet training. "Big up and keep it up". Let us join hand to improve journalism profession in our country especially in era of digital.

Ground in Ogoniland

Environmental conservation has been a big debate in all countries around the world. Nigeria one of Africa’s largest countries situated in West Africa is among the countries which are blamed for contaminating environment through petroleum processing in which communities in Ogoniland became the victims.

In Ogoniland, Oil exploration commenced in the 1950s handled by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC). 

In spite of its great success in oil production, Nigeria on the other side has been facing consequences on environmental conservation.   

Tensions arose between the native Ogoni people of the Niger Delta and petroleum industry in the 1990s claiming very little money earned from oil and the environmental damages caused by Shell's practices.

Ogoni community was the pioneer of different movements raised in Nigeria in 1993 by organizing large protests "the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)" against Shell and the government often occupying the refineries.

On early 2011 Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth International contested the claims by Shell that up to 98% of all oil spills in Nigeria were due to sabotage. A UNDP report states that there have been a total of 6,817 oil spills between 1976 and 2001 which account for a loss of three million barrels of oil of which more than 70% was not recovered.  

Spills in populated areas often spread out over a wide area through contamination of the groundwater and soils during petroleum operations in Nigeria. The consequences were the slow poisoning of the waters, fish population, destruction of vegetation and agricultural land and a large number of accidents, fires and explosions on refining sites claim dozens of lives every year quite apart from the longer-term health effects of ingestion, absorption and inhalation of hydrocarbons.

People in the affected areas complain about health issues including breathing problems and skin lesions. Many have lost basic human rights such as health, access to food, clean water and an ability to work.

At the request of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP has conducted an independent assessment of the environment and public health impacts of oil contamination in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta and options for remediation. The study in Ogoniland, Nigeria covers thematic issues of contaminated land, groundwater, surface water and sediments, vegetation, air pollution and public health. 

UNEP discovered that Shell and other oil firms systematically contaminated a 1,000 sq km (386 sq mile) area of Ogoniland in the Niger delta with disastrous consequences for human health and wildlife.

Pollution from over 50 years of oil operations in the region has penetrated further and deeper than many may have supposed showing that communities have faced a severe health risk, with some families drinking water with high levels of carcinogens.

In at least 10 Ogoni communities where drinking water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons, public health is seriously threatened. In one community at Nisisioken Ogale in western Ogoniland families are drinking water from wells that is contaminated with benzene.

The oil industry has been a key sector of the Nigerian economy for over 50 years, but many Nigerians have paid a high price.

Some areas, which appear unaffected at the surface, are in reality severely contaminated underground and action to protect human health and reduce the risks to affected communities should occur without delay.

UNEP report suggested that the environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world’s most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise ever undertaken if contaminated drinking water, land, creeks and important ecosystems such as mangroves are to be brought back to full, productive health. It may require the world’s biggest ever clean-up that could take 20-30 years.

The UN Environment Programme also called for the oil industry and the Nigerian government to contribute $1 billion to a clean-up fund for the region that has been devastated by oil pollution.

The clean-up of Ogoniland will not only address a tragic legacy but also represents a major ecological restoration enterprise with potentially multiple positive effects ranging from bringing the various stakeholders together in a single concerted cause to achieving lasting improvements for the Ogoni people.

Shell in Nigeria

Nigeria one of Africa’s largest countries and its most populous, is situated in West Africa. Nigeria is rich in natural resources including natural gas petroleum, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc, timber and extensive arable land. Prior to the discovery of oil in the 1950s, agriculture was the mainstay of the economy, with agricultural produce exported to the more industrialized regions of the world. By 1971 there had been a shift from agriculture to petroleum production.

Oil exports in Nigeria started in the early 1958 after discovering the first commercial oil field at Oloibiri in the Niger Delta in 1956. In those years oil exploration was handled by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) accounts for more than 90% of Nigeria's total petroleum production as Shell D’Arcy.

In Ogoniland, Oil exploration commenced in the 1950s and extensive production facilities were established during the following three decades. These operations were also under control of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

In spite of its great success in oil production, Nigeria on the other side has been facing consequences on environmental conservation. Tensions arose between the native Ogoni people of the Niger Delta and petroleum industry in the 1990s claiming that very little of the money earned from oil on their land was getting to the people who live there and the environmental damages caused by Shell's practices. In 1993 the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) organized large protests against Shell and the government often occupying the refineries.

In December 2003, Shell Nigeria acknowledged that the conflict in the Niger Delta makes it difficult to operate safely and with integrity and that it intends to improve on its practices.

A UNDP report states that there have been a total of 6,817 oil spills between 1976 and 2001 which account for a loss of three million barrels of oil of which more than 70% was not recovered. Most of these spills occurred off-shore (69%), a quarter was in swamps and 6% spilled on land.
On early 2011 Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth International contested the claims by Shell that up to 98% of all oil spills in Nigeria were due to sabotage. In 1970 an oil spill occurred that affected 255 hectares and the Ejama-Ebubu community in the Rivers State.

Spills in populated areas often spread out over a wide area through contamination of the groundwater and soils during petroleum operations in Nigeria. The consequences were the slow poisoning of the waters, fish population, destruction of vegetation and agricultural land and a large number of accidents, fires and explosions on refining sites claim dozens of lives every year quite apart from the longer-term health effects of ingestion, absorption and inhalation of hydrocarbons.

People in the affected areas complain about health issues including breathing problems and skin lesions. And many have lost basic human rights such as health, access to food, clean water and an ability to work.

In July 2010 the Federal High Court of Nigeria set damages against Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC about 100 million US dollars.

At the request of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP has conducted an independent assessment of the environment and public health impacts of oil contamination in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta and options for remediation. The study in Ogoniland, Nigeria covers thematic issues of contaminated land, groundwater, surface water and sediments, vegetation, air pollution and public health.

UNEP discovered that Shell and other oil firms systematically contaminated a 1,000 sq km (386 sq mile) area of Ogoniland in the Niger delta with disastrous consequences for human health and wildlife.

Pollution from over 50 years of oil operations in the region has penetrated further and deeper than many may have supposed showing that communities have faced a severe health risk, with some families drinking water with high levels of carcinogens.

In at least 10 Ogoni communities where drinking water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons, public health is seriously threatened. In one community at Nisisioken Ogale in western Ogoniland families are drinking water from wells that is contaminated with benzene.

The oil industry has been a key sector of the Nigerian economy for over 50 years, but many Nigerians have paid a high price.

Some areas, which appear unaffected at the surface, are in reality severely contaminated underground and action to protect human health and reduce the risks to affected communities should occur without delay.

UNEP report suggested that the environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world’s most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise ever undertaken if contaminated drinking water, land, creeks and important ecosystems such as mangroves are to be brought back to full, productive health. It may require the world’s biggest ever clean-up that could take 20-30 years.

The UN Environment Programme also called for the oil industry and the Nigerian government to contribute $1 billion to a clean-up fund for the region that has been devastated by oil pollution.

UNEP’s hope that the clean-up of Ogoniland will not only address a tragic legacy but also represents a major ecological restoration enterprise with potentially multiple positive effects ranging from bringing the various stakeholders together in a single concerted cause to achieving lasting improvements for the Ogoni people.

Second day of investigative internet training

The second day of investigative internet journalism training was a day of full practical. We started by searching for different information such as world press freedom day in Tanzania, Tanzania itself, Kikwete, Iringa and Baraka Obama. We were using different searching sources like anytime, past week, past hours, custom range, sort by date and advanced search. The aim was to get more information about something we were looking for.

Practical on how to narrow research with Google was done as well as searching for map of Iringa and Dar es Salaam via internet. We were able to look on how to get directions from Iringa to Morocco road and Nkrumah Street in Dar es Salaam on map via satellite, earth, photo as well.

We were given the assignment about Ezekiel Kimboi. Who is he? His merits and why has he been appeared in the week news. Through internet research in different websites we found that Ezekiel Kemboi is a Kenyan athlete a winner of the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2009 World Championships, the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Summer Olympics. He appeared in this week news after a criminal charges against him have been dropped by a serving police officer Anne Njeri Otieno. We posted this story in our blog and added link.

Setting was another practical done by participants by changing design and dates because it was found that the time allocated in our blogs was not genuine according to GMT.

Day two end by linking participant’s in our blogs. This work was done by every participant so that s/he can be able to access blogs of others. 

Day two was joyful and useful to me because I learned a lot through digging information via internet. It was a full research practical. I learned how to add link in the word we want in our stories something which was new to me. This is a fruit of investigative internet journalism training. I believe that it will be useful even to other journalists who will be given the chance to attend the same training. I will also be a pioneer of the training to my colleague.

Famous Ezekiel Kemboi

Ezekiel Kemboi Cheboi is a Kenyan athlete born in May 25, 1982 in Matira, near Kapsowar, Marakwet District. He is one of the famous athletes in the world due to his successful position in his career.

Kemboi became African Junior Champion in 2001. He is a winner of the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2009 World Championships, the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. And he is one of only three men to have won both Olympic and World gold’s in the event, along with Reuben Kosgei and Brimin Kipruto.

Kemboi appeared in this week news because assault charges against him have been dropped before the case was due to open at the court in the western town of Eldoret.

These charges were raised by a serving police officer Anne Njeri Otieno claiming that in June this year the athlete attacked her with a knife when she declined his sexual advances.

On Tuesday, Ms Njeri Otieno told journalists that she had decided to withdraw the charges against Kemboi in order to focus on her career in journalism and she has forgiven him out of her own free will.

First day on Investigative Internet Journalism Training

The first day on investigative internet training started by introduction from participants, the place we are working, how we are connected with this training and what is our expectation.

The facilitator introduced us (participants) the aim of training. These are to practice more investigative fact-finding procedures and to produce and develop journalistic stories based on the research.

We got welcome note to officiate this training from the Second Secretary of the Finland Embassy in Tanzania Mr. Jussi Nummein.

Then, facilitator thought us how to open blog. Every participant was able to open his/her own blog and it was used to post our assignment about our introduction.

We studied about what is investigative internet journalism, starting with the introduction of what is investigative journalism. The definition of the term investigative journalism was found by searching different search engines such us:-

• www.google.com
• www.wikipedia.org
• http://investigative-journalism-africa-info
• Through the news manual search

So longer us the philosophy of the training is “learning by doing” with a very participatory approach. The facilitator showed us different search engines for investigative journalism which we were also searching. These are:-

• www.rthk.org.hk for a Centre of investigative reporting by Alan Knight
• www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda on how investigative journalism makes a use of internet.
• www.mashable.com/2012/11/24 about how investigative journalism is prospering in the age of social media. Mashable Social Media.
• www.wikileaksd.org for Wiki Leaks
• www.blogs.dispatch.co.za/schools

The facilitator introduced as the characteristics of investigative reporter such as curiosity, passion, initiative, logical thinking, fair and balance. And also the procedures to be taken before starting your investigation via internet. Some tips are to think first what you want to search, where to find it, is it though Google or by using specific website, to quote the source and to plan how to use the time for searching, writing, editing the text and checking facts and delivering the final story.

The use of favorites and how to delete it when you are no longer in need of it was also a part of study.

At the end of the day we do practical by searching some information. Such as the population of Iringa, the name of the President of Mali, contacts of Tanzania National Park (TANAPA), top goal score in English Premier League as well as the CCM Chairman Jakaya Kikwete quote at UWT meeting. These were done through Google in a simple, more search tools and advanced search.

I enjoyed participatory approach used in the training, learning by doing, activeness of the internet and also being familiar with new search engines for investigative journalism such as www.rthk.org.hk, www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda, www.mashable.com/2012/11/24, www.blogs.dispatch.co.za/schools because I was not aware with it. So by being familiar with this website was a part of learning. I learn also on how to use favorite. Otherwise other things were not new for me because I learn them in previous internet training.

I didn’t like the way time was handled by participants, some of us were late so the facilitator decided to wait for a complete number in order to start training. At the end of the first day the facilitator emphasized us to come earlier in the next day.

By conclusion, the first day was useful for me because I benefited a lot on how to investigate information via internet.  The challenge ahead is that; is this training will be taken into practice by the participants especially by continuing posting stories in blog?

Introduction in the investigative internet training

My name is Flora Rugashoborola. I am a journalist by profession working as a News Editor of Star TV. It is a private media company located in Mwanza city. I have more than eighty years working experience in this career.

For this week starting from 22^nd to 28^th October, 2012 I will be in Dar es Salaam attending Training on investigative internet journalism for journalists in Tanzania. It is a three days workshop starting from 24^th to 26^th October, 2012 at Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre (TGDLC) at the Institute of Financial Management (IFM). This training is organized by MISA Tanzania in collaboration with VIKES Foundation with support from the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The facilitator is Mr. Johansson Peik a senior journalist from Finland.

My expectation on this training are:

• To increase my knowledge and skills on investigating news and information through the internet by sharing ideas with facilitator and my colleagues. (Participatory approach).
• To know more on how to get depth information background (fact finding)
• To get more search engines (new insights) for investigating stories.
• To open a new blog for publishing online searched stories.
• To create many social networks.
• To practice more investigative fact finding through the philosophy of training; “Learning by doing”

All in all, I expect to share this knowledge with my colleagues at Star TV so that they can also benefit.