The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya – Years ago most artistes, especially those living outside the capital city, were complaining about the lack of exposure from mainstream media.
Their complaints were that both print and electronic media were concentrating on the same arts genres and same artistes. And they were right.
It was always music and musicians who got the most coverage. In those particular years if you had visited Zimbabwe you would have been forgiven to think music was the only art practised in the country.
Acres and acres of space on entertainment pages from both independent and state media covered music, mostly music from the capital city. It was the same with radio and television.
Other art forms got mentioned once in a while – mostly as an afterthought. Perhaps the focus on music was because most journalists covering the arts in the newsrooms were not trained to review or critique the arts in such a way as to push the arts to another level.
Most unfortunate was that those who seemed to know how to critique art were nowhere near any newsroom.
But that has changed. Now the Internet has come and changed things around. Now the very people that can critique art or at least that want to talk about other art forms besides music can now do so in the comfort of their homes via social media.
All they need to do is attend shows and events and then twit or blog about it. Tweeting can be while the show or event is happening or it can be after. Bloggers have more writing space.
They can do both previews and reviews. This means the art forms your mainstream journalists do not normally cover can still get some coverage and in the long run get noticed – resulting in more patronage.
However, there is always a danger that tweeting or blogging is not bound by recognised code of ethics. Someone can just tweet anything about the show or event knowing no one can take them to task. The same with bloggers. They can say whatever they want without any fear of the consequences.
I personally was a victim of some reckless blogging where some young blogger accused me of stealing a play I had never seen. I was suddenly this old thief who went about stealing young people’s ideas and calling them mine.
If the young blogger had had the decency to talk to the young creatives he believed I had stolen from and got their comment it would have been better. But he had no time to research. He had a scoop!
His instinct told him I was a thief and he surely went to town about the accusation. Worse the young blogger did not even come to me to verify his suspicions or to seek my side of the story. To him I was the biggest thief and was not entitled to defend myself. That is the danger of social media. Overzealous bloggers and twitterati can become an authority to things they have no knowledge of. Artistes’ careers can be destroyed with a few blog articles.
Anyway I still have hope in bloggers and those who use twitter to push other forms of art, especially the lesser known genres. And I am not the only one.
The coming of social media means we now do not have to rely on mainstream media for coverage of the arts. There are too many events happening out there – in the townships and rural areas – events that are not being covered by mainstream media.
A serious opportunity for bloggers and those who use twitter.
However, while we celebrate the new opportunities brought about by social media, we must not forget the reality on the ground. And the reality is that bloggers can blog but if the public have no access to their blogs then that’s another story.
There is serious need for bloggers to make sure the general public has access to their blogs. Food for thought.
