South Africa: Twenty Ten launches commissioning system for African journalists

With workshops and training for 128 experienced African journalists behind them, the organizers of the Twenty Ten project have moved on to the newest and most exciting phase: commissioning this select group of journalists from 34 countries to create photo, text, radio and multimedia features that add depth and breadth to the body of work already being produced about Africa in advance of the World Cup.

Under the leadership of Greg Marinovich, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer whose memoir, The Bang Bang Club, is being made into a feature film, the project's editorial team has already begun the process of commissioning feature articles for publications and media companies around the globe.

David Larsen, Director of Africa Media Online, the local organization responsible for the African logistics of the Twenty Ten project as well as worldwide distribution of all of the content produced, explains the intention: “We believe that the wire services such as Reuters, AP and AFP will do a good job of covering the World Cup, but that they will focus on the ‘hard' news. The very nature of what they do is about getting the news out there first. Their material is often dated by the next day, or even the next hour. Our intention, on the other hand, is to supplement that: to provide depth and breadth that they do not aim at. We are providing stories that their journalists cannot - often because their people can't speak that language, or have access to the people on the ground that our journalists do.”

Larsen sees the “Allstars”, as the journalists of the Twenty Ten project are known, as a virtual extension of existing media companies' own teams of staffers and freelancers, with their services available for specific commissions, or their stories available for purchase on a once-off or subscription basis.

Examples of articles already commissioned include a photo feature from Ghana that showcases the way European football is bringing ethnic enemies from the Western African country together, an interview with the parents of famous Ivorian player Didier Drogba, and a multimedia piece on the lives of South African farm workers in rural areas such as Ventersdorp and the Boland.

<>b:About the project:
Twenty Ten: African Media on the Road to 2010 (and beyond) is an initiative of World Press Photo, Free Voice, Africa Media Online and lokaalmondiaal, dedicated to reporting on African football, related issues and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa from an African perspective.

For more information on the Twenty Ten project, see www.roadto2010.com.
To find out about publication rights to the articles, email pictures@africamediaonline.com.
To commission an Allstar journalist, email dominique@africamediaonline.com.

- April 19, 2010 by Africa media online (company news)

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Source: www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/147/46794.html (accessed on 19.04.10)