By Ali Balunywa in Mbarara, Uganda
Recruited in 2000, Joseph Mazige is now the Daily Monitor’s Mbarara Bureau chief. He is a graduate of Mass Communications of Makerere University. The Monitor is Uganda’s other second daily newspaper. It is an independent daily founded by a group of journalists. Currently, it is owned by East Africa’s biggest media house, The Nation Group of Companies that publishes the biggest circulating newspaper in East Africa. It also owns radios and televisions in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
Joseph arrives in office at 7.15 every morning. He first peruses the Monitor newspaper to check out which stories were run and to get story tips. He looks at advertisements also because they provide the best story tips. He also reads other newspapers to find out which stories could have escaped them from the region and what angle other papers took.
At 8.00 am, he chairs the meeting with reporters and correspondents. He also has a one to one meeting to discuss stories run and to get news tips. He also assigns them the day’s work.
After the editorial meeting, Joseph checks his emails. If there are story tips or invitations to attend press briefings or conference, he assigns them to the reporters.
There always exists a docket for stories especially left over from the day before. Joseph looks at it and decides which stories are still relevant and sends them to Kampala. However, he keeps the docket open for reporters to add the day’s stories.
As stories come in, Joseph reads them and advises the writers on what angles to take and what extras to include. All these stories once ready are put in the days docket. A docket is an electronic storage space.
At 8.30am, Joseph edits stories that remained in the docket the day before. By 9.00am, a docket of not less than 2 stories is sent to Kampala. Thereafter, Joseph starts editing stories as they come in. He also works the phones to engage the reporters in the field. He guides them as they gather news.
Sometimes Joseph also goes out in the field to gather news or to fulfill appointments especially from government officials. By midday, another docket is submitted to Kampala. It includes stories and photos. This is the deadline for a normal story to be sent to Kampala. Since upcountry news are always somewhere inside, the deadline for submission of articles is 12.00 noon. Only stories for pages 1,2 or 3 can be received much later. Breaking news stories can also be submitted late.
Joseph claimed that the new media is the biggest blessing that journalists have. He started with the computer which he said was used for typing stories, email, communication, editing, layout, spell check, search engines, etc. He also admitted to having a blog; www.jomazige.blogspot.com, where he puts several articles that are dear to his heart.
Joseph is also grateful to Yahoo messenger and MSN, which he uses for work for example communicating with subeditors in Kampala. Once they see each other online, then it is easier to correct any story or article.
Joseph also uses the mobile telephone for texting, communication, Internet, recording and photography. He also listens to the BBC radio and watches TV.
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