https://zimbabwe.misa.org Strategies for Internet Technology and Digital Rights Reporting Reconfiguration of media operations, structures and business models As mainstream media grapple with the pressures of embracing technology and innovation, serious modifications have been undertaken. For instance, mainstream media organisations are forced to restructure, streamline and even experiment with new business models in clear efforts to stay ahead of the curve29 but they often lack the agility to rapidly transform. With revenues dwindling, mainstream media are resource constrained, which affects the quality of journalism as fewer funds are available to produce multi-sourced, analytical and in-depth reports whilst chasing stringent deadlines. Additionally, new technology use 30is integrated unevenly into newsrooms, and there are major variations across the region with regards to problems of access whilst the lack of proper training constrains the use of technologies to their fullest. These realities account for why mainstream media has not invested in or focused on specialised journalism including internet, technology and digital rights reportage. Apart from resource constraints that make it difficult for mainstream media to upskill and improve the digital skills of journalists, patterns of media ownership also interfere with news reporting, including coverage of digital rights violations. In countries like Zambia, Swaziland, Mozambique and Zimbabwe where the dominant media is state-controlled and the private press is muzzled, new communication technologies are credited with promoting access to information through mobile telephony, online media, citizen journalism, social media and vibrant blogospheres. Media convergence, journalistic skills gaps and information overload The mainstream media contends with challenges such as: • the 31emergence of greater competition from peripheral actors or news sources • the need for engagement with audiences and news consumers • the accelerated news cycles owing to the immediacy of online content dissemination. Moreover, mainstream media practitioners have to contend with the avalanche of information generated online. The emergence of ICTs provide new ways of documenting events and disseminating information as different forms of media converge on single platforms, such as having both the audio, videos, images and words in one story posted online32. This media convergence places additional 29See Mabweazara, H. M. (2015). African journalism in the “digital era”: Charting a research agenda. African Journalism Studies, 36(1), 11–17. doi:10.1080/23743670.2015.1008124 30See Berger, G. (2005). Powering African newsrooms: Theorising how Southern African journalists make use of ICTs for newsgathering. Doing Digital Journalism: How Southern African Newsgatherers are using ICTs, Grahamstown, Highway Africa, 1-14. 31 See Research: “The more things change, the more they stay the same: The impacts of social media and digital technology on journalism quality in South African newsrooms” https://ijec.org/2018/02/02/research-the-more-things-change-the- more-they-stay-the-same-theimpacts-of-social-media-and-digital-technology-on-journalism-quality-in-south-african- newsrooms/ [Accessed 16 September 2020] 32The Positive Role Of Information Communication Technologies In The Newsroom. https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2019/05/18/ the-positive-role-of-information-communication-technologies-in-the- newsroom/ [Accessed 16 September 2020] 9