Ayodeji Rotinwa, the deputy editor of African Arguments, and I had an in-depth talk about how he’s trying to help raise the standard of reporting through a new fellowship program for African freelance journalists.
Category Archives: Education
Series: How to move to Africa as a journalist #3: Melissa Chemam
For the third edition of the “How to move to Africa as a journalist” series, I spoke to Melissa Chemam who lived and worked in Central and East Africa as a freelance journalist.
That “tribal” word
It’s a problematic term that African scholars and media professional have pushed against for decades. Recently, some companies have stopped using it.
Do they even speak English in Africa?
Someone asked me this again. A few months ago, during one of my trips back home to Atlanta, an American woman who had told me that she was interested in visiting Africa for the very first time – specifically contemplating Ghana – asked me, “do they speak English there?” I calmly told her yes, theyContinue reading “Do they even speak English in Africa?”
Do you need a degree in journalism to be a journalist?
You do not actually need a Bachelor’s degree in journalism to practice as a journalist. In fact, the idea of a journalism degree is fairly recent. American universities pioneered journalism education.
Pick up a language, it’s good for the brain: Multilingualism in Africa
Many Africans are multilingual. If you go to South Africa, you’ll likely come across young folks who speak four, five, six languages. Multilingualism is part of the experience of growing up in Africa. There are more than 1,500 distinct languages spoken there.
Journalist in Africa 