The latest tragic events have shown the necessity of activism in Citizen Journalism not only in Tananarive the capitale where most of the time the mainstream media is strongly based but also in the provinces. Madagascar large territories are difficult to cover and when the national radio and television stopped broadcasting, the regions were muted from the politial events and people relayed mostly on sms and phone calls to get news. When some Tananarive bloggers were fortunate enough to be able to connect from their workplace, they brought us priceless images and live descriptions of the dark days of the latest political struggles. Most of commentors appreciated their work and bloggers like Lomelle got even noticed by a major French TV channel praising the activism of Malagasy blogosphere. News came slowly from Tamatave, Antsirabe and Majunga where we’ve been training dizains of bloggers last year. There are at least 2 major problems that kept these very talented and motivated bloggers to connect (this is also most of Tananarive’s bloggers reality) :
- No cybercafés were open during the riots ( ESSVA school and Tamatave Barikadimy University were closed as well), so it keeps them from updating their blogs and uploading contents;
- Security concerns were also the main reasons behind not going outside during these kinds of events. ….. but
Solofo from FBC Vakinankaratra didn’t wait long to report on Antsirabe post-riots and brought us images of a devastated town.
JOVENNA ANKARATRA : une des victimes
Patrick was active too but took a little more risk by taking pictures in the middle of the manifestations. Pictures which are nowhere to be seen on the internet but on his Flickr album!
Tanambao 5 street by Layshyuu
Diana currently in Diego wrote that “everything is zen” and Antsa, also trained in Majunga, describes the return to normalcy , which refers to the return of peddlers on the city’s street, after days of curfew and destruction around the market of Mahabibo.
MIVERINA AMIN’NY TANINY NY JIOSY
Show your support to the FBC work by posting comments and visiting their blogs !!
Getting connected was not easy since the crises started and that’s right we are lucky to be able to do that at our office. Media citizen is also a way to fight against fake information. Keep up the good job guys and stay safe.
Oui du très bon boulot !!! je suis allée faire un tour sur les blogs hier et je dois dire que les jeunes se bougent beaucoup
They are mooving like fools !!! and Patrick’s has taken good pictures !!!
[...] of our prioriry was to bring more and more news from the provinces. Not only because of the very little place they take on mainstream media but also to share to the [...]