Journalists are unable to keep pace with the growing digital landscape. Skilling has to move fast

The digital skills gap is a significant threat to reliable news reporting. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford It states that 75% of the global population seeks news and information on social media networks such as Twitter, YouTube and Meta (which own Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp). Social media networks are becoming the primary news source, and this trend is accelerating.

But journalists, especially in emerging digital countries, are not equipped to stay engaged and safe in an increasingly digital media world. They are facing backwardness in this digital shift. Digital adoption and continued access to skills are the most effective ways to ensure that journalists can continue to make an impact.

Traditional methods of training journalists have not been able to keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital landscape. The ability for journalists to report from anywhere and instantly connect with a global audience is both the biggest opportunity and threat to credible reporting. The gap between the skills journalists traditionally learn and the digital environment in which they operate is creating serious privacy and security challenges for journalists. Beyond journalism, this same digital skills gap leaves people behind, especially the older generation, blue collar workers and anyone living in areas where digital adoption is lacking.

With the phone as the newsroom and the social media network as the distribution channel, an understanding of digital publishing is a key skill journalists require. Social networks are constantly innovating new features to reach a wider audience and create a better experience for users. Journalists need to use these features to understand and be equipped to understand how quickly platforms innovate and evolve. When journalists have the right skills, they can work more safely and report more effectively.

BigSpring, a mobile-first work readiness platform, partnered with a meta-journalism project, The Center for Investigative Reporting Sri Lanka (CIR) and Center for Communication Action Bangladesh (C-CAB), to develop more than 4,000 on digital publishing skills in Bangladesh To impart skills to journalists. five months. Many of these journalists were from rural areas, were not easily accessible, and did not have access to learning skills and best practices. Journalists learned how to protect their accounts and privacy to stay safe, along with best practices for using video to report their stories. The result of this project is an accelerated digital adoption and an increase in the number of ready-to-work journalists capable of covering important stories in all parts of Bangladesh.

During this project, we learned that agility and accessibility are two contributing factors that prepare people to be productive in an increasingly moving world.

The speed at which social networks and digital platforms evolve means skilling has to move at the same pace. The traditional model of classroom training and university education takes too long. By the time a course is developed, initiated and completed by a person, most of the information they learn will be out of date. Creating skill models where specific micro-skills can be built, taught and shared over days, versus weeks or months, provides an advantage. This advantage is amplified when the platforms themselves are ready to be involved and provide the most up-to-date and accurate best practices and strategies for using the new features.

Mobile phones are by far the most connected device on the planet, so creating mobile-first training is the best way to reach as many people as possible. Localization is important, as journalists covering local news in local languages ​​are critical to increased local reporting in newly connected locations. Ensuring that the amount of digital data needed to learn these skills remains low removes another barrier to access, especially in locations with poor connectivity or where the cost of data is expensive.

Anjali Kapur, Director of News Partnerships at Meta Asia Pacific, said, “Our partnership with BigSpring helps journalists and newsrooms build the skills and training needed to navigate digital transformation and develop more connected communities in the news ecosystem. has been instrumental in helping.” “The success of Facebook Fundamentals is due to our strong partnership with BigSpring, the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and the Center for Communication Action Bangladesh (C-CAB), to provide a mobile-first training program to improve the skills of thousands of journalists. which reaches out to journalists from both regional and local areas.”

Digitization is changing everything rapidly, and it creates every new opportunity that also risks leaving people behind. When digitization is combined with the requisite skills, it opens up opportunities for all people to become engaged and productive in work and society.

In a rapidly moving world, preparing people for work is the most important economic and social problem of the next decade. Bridging the digital skills gap by increasing digital adoption is at the heart of the solution, ensuring that everyone can progress into the future. And now we know we can bridge this gap in a big way for everyone.

Bhakti Vithlani, Founder and Chief Executive OfficerBigSpring.

Arun Nagarajan, Co-Founder and CTOBigSpring.

Article Originally appeared in the World Economic Forum.

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