Digital skills necessary for community radio journalists to deliver news on time in a digital environment in Lesotho: Harvest FM case study.

Abstract

The field of journalism is significantly impacted by the development of new technologies. Journalists of today are expected to be experts with in-depth knowledge of digital platforms, interactive technologies, the online environment, websites, and social networking sites. This study examines the value of digital literacy and the skills needed for community radio journalists in Lesotho. This study also investigates the attitudes of journalists regarding digital literacy and how their experiences with it manifest in their work. Lesotho's media industry is still quite young but is rapidly expanding both traditionally and online. While the majority of media outlets are still focused on producing and distributing news the old-fashioned way, there are certain media outlets that are embracing digital news production by employing alternative means to distribute news. Facebook and, to a lesser extent, websites are leading among these other methods. This study uses semi-structured interviews as the main data gathering strategy to get an understanding of what skills are needed by community radio journalists in a digital environment, and to understand what attitudes they have about digital literacy. Observation is also used in this study to observe how journalists carry out their tasks of writing, revising, and publishing their work on the digital platforms, specifically Facebook. This study demonstrates how the speed of the digital media revolution exposes a rising skills gap that has to be bridged more quickly by drawing on communication theories of sociocultural evolution and diffusion of innovation. This study suggests that as digital technology gradually permeates Lesotho, journalists must seize this opportunity to connect with those sections of the community who get news online, necessitating the development of some digital skills. The overall results indicate that community radio journalists need digital skills to deliver news on time in a growing digital environment in Lesotho.