Charles Chisala

Charles Chisala Journalist and general supplier For evidence-based tips on Journalism.
(5)

A former reporter, sub editor and editor with close to 30 years of practice shares his knowledge and experience.

07/11/2024

Thursday gone. Fruitful so far. Friday, what do you have in store for us?

5 FM RADIO PRESENTERS WON MY HEART. ..My award for today goes to the 2 sharp young ladies.========================I've b...
07/11/2024

5 FM RADIO PRESENTERS WON MY HEART. ..My award for today goes to the 2 sharp young ladies.
========================
I've been a print media journalist in my entire working life in the industry, but I am simply in love with radio. This morning I sampled six different radio stations in and outside Lusaka. I fell in love with 5 FM Radio Station on the frequency 89.9.
I always feel proud when young journalists and broadcasters exhibit such high levels of professional proficiency and confidence in public communication. It gives me hope that Journalism and Mass Communication have a bright future in Zambia.
Out of the six radio stations I followed the 5 FM morning show was simply the best and most interesting. I am proud of the two young female presenters for their depth and understanding of the big issues they tackled, some of them quite complex, which are besetting our society. I was particularly impressed with their intelligent analysis of a story from Chikankata District in Southern Province. Many times such issues are discussed in a very shallow and pedestrian manner during such programmes because of the limited intellectual capacity and low knowledge levels of the presenters.
But the two 5 FM presenters were in a class of their own. The story was a case of gender based violence and robbery. Unknown people barged into a house where a woman was sleeping alone. During the attack, the assailants sexually assaulted her before robbing her of her money and a mobile phone. A complex and potentially sensitive story which required a lot of care to discuss on a public forum. But I liked the clever manner the two young presenters tiptoed around it and provided very insightful and educative perspectives.
They understood the story as a sociological issue - how group and personal behaviours sometimes create conditions that expose women to the risk of sexual, emotional or physical harm. They rightfully handled it as a gender issue as well as a societal value issue. I was also impressed with the intelligent way they seamlessly used the story of the incident to seamlessly inform, educate and entertain their audience in line with the three-dimension functionality of Journalism. They used it to bring out general sociological concepts and how their application at societal and individual levels could reduce the risk of such attacks as the Chikankata dual crime for women.
Kudos to the two 5 FM presenters. But my warning to you, young journos, is that please, don't be complacent because of my post. Keep learning and improving for the benefit of the public for which Journalism and broadcasting exist.

07/11/2024

Good morning on this blessed Thursday.

06/11/2024

The rain has disappeared. Some people must confess. 😭😭😭😭😭

TOUGH MEN. IT'S CONFIRMED. NO MORE LIBERALISM AND APPEASEMENT DIPLOMACY.
06/11/2024

TOUGH MEN. IT'S CONFIRMED. NO MORE LIBERALISM AND APPEASEMENT DIPLOMACY.

PEDICLE ROAD SCAM: WHERE'RE THE THIEVES?===================When a contract was awardee for the tarring of the Pedicle Ro...
06/11/2024

PEDICLE ROAD SCAM: WHERE'RE THE THIEVES?
===================
When a contract was awardee for the tarring of the Pedicle Road there was jubilation in Luapula, Northern and Copperbelt provinces. In Luapula it had been our cry and dream for years. This artery road, which passes through a swathe of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is the shortest link between the Copperbelt and Luapula, and by extension Northern Province.
But corruption and unbridled greed have robbed the people in the three regions of the much anticipated benefits of the contract. We are literally back to square one despite government pouring millions of Kwacha into the project. Just like that.
A few months into its implementation it was clear that the contractor lacked both the logistical and technical capacity to do the job of upgrading the road from gravel to bitumen, which was expected to give its users relief from the agony of travelling on a dusty, heavily eroded and potholed road and ankle-deep mud during rainy seasons.
The quality of the 30 to 40 kilometres that had been done when I drove on in on my way to a news tour of Luapula left me angry and shocked. Many people expressed alarm at the poor quality of the road but government kept disbursing money and corrupt ministers and senior civil servants kept inspecting the works. Years were passing without any significant progress. Before the road was commissioned it was already developing potholes and collapsing.
Today, the Pedicle road is a sorry sight. It's in a pathetic state. With the onset of rains, it will soon become semi-passable or impassable.
Government must conduct a forensic audit of the project and get to the bottom of what led to its shameful failure. What role did the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing, Road Development Agency (RDA), the Ministry of Finance through the National Road Fund Agency (NFRA) play?
We must never condone a situation where a cabal of thieves subject innocent citizens in three provinces to suffering again when government had embarked on the project and released millions of Kwacha. If there are people who have information, especially those in the last administration, they must give it to relevant government investigative agencies. All those involved must face the law. Such people should not be shielded because they were a big liability to the former ruling party.
We need a properly tarred Pedicle Road. Capwa!

06/11/2024

When America votes, the whole world holds its breath. Conservatism and liberalism are battling it out. Who do you want to win?

ATTENTION BEMBA LADIES AND GIRLS: PLEASE, TONE DOWN BANE..They're gossipping about you. 😡==========================My Be...
06/11/2024

ATTENTION BEMBA LADIES AND GIRLS: PLEASE, TONE DOWN BANE..They're gossipping about you. 😡
==========================
My Bemba mothers, aunts, sisters, daughters and nieces, you all know how much I love you mmwaaa! 🥰🥰 But please, tone down bane. Manage those yowa busy beaks and muzzles for once.
You know, sometimes I find it difficult to defend you, my beloved tribeswomen, from the big lies by the jealous Easterners and malicious Lozis . Surely, you know already how they've been lying that "he who marries a Bemba woman must be prepared to live with an irritating loud 🔊 speaker for the rest of his miserable life". Evil people!
The other day I caught this foolish Lozi chap red-handed telling the whole world that he had attended a court hearing in Kabwe during which a Lenje stock thief was sentenced to living with two Bemba women as his wives for one month to teach him a lesson that stealing other people's goats is costly. With a straight face, this chap from Kwa Kalabo swore that the thief started crying at the top of his voice and rolling on the floor of the court saying, "You've sentenced me to death. You've actually killed me. One is a disaster enough, but two Bemba women under the same roof is a death warrant!" 😭😭😭😭
Now, how do I defend you from such silly gossip by these evil Lozis sure? Yesterday, I had the misfortune of boarding a ka mini bus at Lusaka City Market around 18:00 hours. This middle-aged Bemba woman in front of me started talking on her ka black cilang'anda button mobile phone even before the bus pulled off from the congested station. She was talking to the person on the other end in Bemba and seriously broken English non-stop at the top of her sharp voice without minding the angry looks, frowns, pouts and sniggers from the annoyed fellow commuters.
By the time we were all disembarking from the wreck of a bus at the last station in Ngwenya Garden House, the chatter box was still talking and laughing on the phone as passengers shook their heads in dismay. Awe muli bakuleka fye. What happened to your volume and on/off k***s bane?
Let's not give these jealous Easterners and malicious Lozis more ammunition to continue maligning our beautiful women ati ma loud 🔊 speaker.

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD===================Social media is a double-edged SWORD. When used well it is a tool. When misused or ...
05/11/2024

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
===================
Social media is a double-edged SWORD. When used well it is a tool. When misused or abused it turns into a weapon. The public backlash was swift and overwhelming.
Fortunately, the musician apologised, somehow reducing the damage. Society has redlines. Once they are crossed, it delivers its judgment on the deviants without mercy. But it also forgives those who are contrite.

05/11/2024

Ba Lusaka be ready to be fried like fritters today. This sun awe. 😭😭

COMEDY OF ERRORS IN MODERN DAY TOWER OF BABEL 😭😭😭..North Koreans turn on friendly Russian forces.=================As Rus...
04/11/2024

COMEDY OF ERRORS IN MODERN DAY TOWER OF BABEL 😭😭😭..North Koreans turn on friendly Russian forces.
=================
As Russia battles to dislodge Ukrainian troops who have captured the Russian town of Kirk, North Korea has sent 12,000 poorly trained and inexperienced soldiers to the war front to help Vadmir Putin's struggling forces. However, there is a humiliating turn of events.
During an exchange of fire with the Ukrainians the Koreans were firing at the Russian forces as a result of a language barrier. A Russian officer complained that all efforts to explain to the Koreans that the people they were firing on were on their side fell on deaf ears. They killed two Russian soldiers. It's the modern day Tower of Babel.
Credit: Nytimespost

DISCLOSE OR SIMPLY SAID?..Was it a secret?======================During a lecture in News Reporting former Africa Literat...
04/11/2024

DISCLOSE OR SIMPLY SAID?..Was it a secret?
======================
During a lecture in News Reporting former Africa Literature Centre (ALC) lecturer late Melody Kalonga, a legend in Journalism and media training who worked in Zambia and the United Kingdom in his heyday, told us, "If it's not a disclosure then it's not news. There's no need to 'disclose' news. We just tell the news."
There was a news item on one of the radio stations today in which the caster said a named source had "disclosed that..."
The word 'disclose' must be used correctly in News Reporting. It is often used out of context. Reporters must ensure that the language they are employing to communicate news reflects the true context of the story. Journalism delivers communication outcomes using simple, conversational English which ordinary people use when interacting and communicating with one another in their daily business.
This 'day to day' English that Journalism uses as a tool is called Press English. Every reporter, sub editor and editor must have a fair command of this English.
When 'disclose' is used as an attribution verb instead of the simple and straight forward 'said' it is misused. If you say 'Minister of Food Security Kalima Fisabo has disclosed that....' you are implying that the minister had released something he or another person had been hiding. That he or she had let out a secret, which is usually not the case. By the way did the source or speaker explain that he or she was actually "disclosing" a secret? If not; if he or she was just speaking like any other source, why not simply use 'said' which is clear and straight forward?
The problem is that some reporters fall to the temptation to sound "learned" by parroting what others have been writing because it sounds classy without understanding the meaning of the word and how it must be used. Your viewer, listener or reader deserves to be communicated to in very clear and simple language. Vague words used out of context can easily carry a meaning that is completely different from what you intended to communicate and what the source said. I submit. 🙏

04/11/2024

My best radio stations for Monday morning shows: Hot, Millennium and Phoenix. Powerful and professional.

04/11/2024

HAPPY NEW WEEK. HAPPY MONDAY

03/11/2024

Bo Inonge nabo. Ati, "Mmmmm! This fish sounds veli nice. I've heard it well. Who cooked it?" 😂😂😂😂😂

01/11/2024

Today, we put young entrepreneur Kangwa Kangwa to rest at Leopards Hill Cemetery in Lusaka. Good night.

SO, THIS IS HOW THE MIGHTY FALL?============================The mightier you make yourself, the greater your fall and th...
01/11/2024

SO, THIS IS HOW THE MIGHTY FALL?
============================
The mightier you make yourself, the greater your fall and the louder its thud as you hit the ground.
So, even the desperate efforts to endear himself with the corridors of power had failed to work? Indeed, there is always a time to atone for impunity.
For those who are in power today who are not learning anything from these happenings, a worse fate awaits them. Impunity always begets recompense. The commander-in-chief of the notorious and brutal NATO Forces militia who were terrorising even fellow PF members and leaders has eventually met his Waterloo.
With all his bravado and big talk while the PF was riding tye crest of temporary power, Hon Bowman Chilosha Lusambo was last person you expected the police to find cowering and trembling with fear up in the ceiling of his house. What a hilarious end.
Meanwhile, a political Tsunami has just struck Botswana's ruling party. Its candidate, President Mokgweetsi Masisi wasted his entire first term of office on relentlessly persecuting his predecessor Ian Khama, a blunder for which he has paid dearly. Khama threw his weight behind an opposition party for which he campaigned heavily.
To his credit, Masisi has been magnanimous enough to concede defeat even as he licks his bleeding political wounds. Very dramatic Friday indeed.

31/10/2024

From Tuesday night we are now heading into Friday without electricity. 😭😭

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