Deputy Minister for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Kindness Paradza has urged young people to take up creative spaces and produce content that will appeal to locals.
Speaking at a ZITF Media Indaba, where the ministry was interfacing with the media fraternity, Paradza said young people should not sit back and feel left out of the media industry but should be proactive and produce local content that will attract viewership on local stations.
This was in response to concerns that had been raised by participants at the Indaba, that young people are not consuming local content, rather, they prefer watching content from neighbouring countries and abroad.
“Young people should not complain about content. If you’re not happy with the content, take up these spaces and produce high-quality content that will be appealing to you. Sell it to the existing media organizations, they should be able to buy it from you,” the deputy minister said.
“What we have done as the government is to open up the media space for different players. There are also various learning institutions that are now offering courses in media, initially there were only two, but now there are plenty. Make use of these to learn how to produce quality content that will appeal to our local audience.”
Paradza said further efforts to open up the media space and promote young people participation in the media industry is through the openings of campus radio stations.
“We have opened up campus radio stations. Our objective as a ministry is that straight from these, young people can easily penetrate other media outlets. We also plan on having campus and community television licenses so that we may have diverse content,” he said.
Intwasa Arts Festival Director, Raisedon Baya, said young people should find organisations that can work with them and use such platforms to create the type of content they want to consume.
“It is important for young people to identify organisations that can work with them. There are plenty out there. I, myself, do work with young people but I can’t work with everyone. It’s practically impossible and besides, the resources would not permit,” Baya said.
“Creating content is not a one-man job. It needs everyone to be on board. If you have ideas that you feel can be useful in improving content quality, approach the media organisations and help improve our local content.”
