Jennifer Aliu-Kadiri writes on what she learnt at a recent webinar on storytelling with the support of the Media Career Development Network.
When the lockdown commenced in Lagos, many people were confused as to what they could spend their time doing. Some, were alone with no means of income to take care of their basic needs let alone surf the internet for fun stuff to relieve the rising tension within their body system.
But this one particular person, she was worried about her mental health and how she would survive this pandemic. Jennifer is a graduate of journalism who is unemployed. She registered for so many storytelling webinar and journalism online workshops. She attended none. Her absence was not because she was lazy, it was merely because she had no internet data to take part in such online luxury.
It was just like a sunny day that suddenly hijacked the night of darkness when she saw a message from Mr. Lekan Otufodurin in one of the groups she was also part of. He promised to provide data for anyone attending any journalism or storytelling webinar. Immediately, she sent him a message and he replied: “give me the information on the webinar you are attending.” To shorten the narratives, She got enough internet data to help her attend a webinar session on Impact of Storytelling.
STORYTELLING FOR IMPACT
“A story is the fastest way to build a bridge or break a wall”
_Ameen Hague
This is to say that storytelling is a connector of the past, present, people, places, events etc. It is an art of sharing. What is shared could be true or false. It involves writing, talking, creating animation, info-graphics, whatever helps the story to be understood by the audience.
For journalism, storytelling is now beyond the 5Ws and H. it is now IMMERSIVE. This is to say, journalists now put themselves into the story to drive home salient point that will push the right button. It conveys the audience into the story.
The media is a very powerful tool that could bring about change (positive or negative). To inform the public, we must write what is true and whatever is not factual, should be stated clearly. Misinformation is a killer and journalists and storytellers cannot afford to be murderers because they are the eyes and ears of the people especially the underprivileged ones.
It is also important to ensure that stories are credible enough to avoid misinformation. Immersion draws the audience into the story. Storytelling is now more about “HOW” than “WHAT and WHO.”
The class lasted for about an hour with an introduction from participants. It was indeed an eye-opener for me. Thank you Mr. Otufodunrin for the impact. This is my first ever online lecture I was able to attend since the lockdown began. I’m indeed grateful.
