Prof. Femi Shaka, Chair of the Festival Panel, ‘Digital Documentary and Citizen Journalism,' kicked off the discourse by proclaiming that the principal aim of Citizen Journalism is to democratise the process of documenting events-cum-history and not to compete with professional media people. This, he said, makes it possible for everyone to tell stories from their own points-of-view, which may not necessarily negate the accounts of journalists, when they eventually narrate their own versions. The need for it also arises because journalists will not always be around when events unfold and it will be unseemly for people to miss the opportunity of relaying an incident, which could make a lasting impact in a community or the world at large.
Prof. Shaka, who explained that Citizen Journalism is typified by Channels TV's iWitness and CNN's iReport, advocated that it is high time security agencies opened up sections on their websites, where citizens can report crime.

Photographer and filmmaker, Tam Fiofori, reminded the audience of two popular quotes from Marshall McLuhan and George Orwell, that "the medium is the message' and "Big Brother is watching you" respectively. He further advised the citizen journalist to sieve the information at his disposal, identifying what is important, what could pass for news and items that are downright frivolous.
Fiofori decried the lack of self-awareness among citizens, asking people to train themselves so as to be aware of activities around them. He also recommended the application of courtesy, noting that an erring man or woman could be disarmed when he or she is politely spoken to.

Dr. Friday Nwankwo, who observed that Citizen Journalism could otherwise be described as Guerrilla or Street Journalism, called for sensitivity and sensibility among citizen journalists. He averred that Citizen Journalism, especially video evidence, can aid security operatives in doing their jobs.
Dr. Alan Channer expressed dismay over the creation of unsocial citizens through the social media while Rev. Fr. Dr. Innocent Uwa informed the gathering that Citizen Journalism could be institutional or private: established media organizations can create Citizen Journalism units so that they are not thrown out of business in case Citizen Journalism becomes a huge part of media business.
Deji Adesanya and Prof. Shaka called for responsibility whilst engaging in Citizen Journalism. For instance, when an accident occurs, the topmost concern should be to assist the injured rather than taking pictures at the scene of the accident; though both activities can go on simultaneously if there are many people at the scene to handle both engagements.
There were however a few errors in the film such as mistakenly appropriating the names of Yemisi Shyllon and Adebisi Arije for each other towards the end of the film.
Indeed, Fiofori has put his money where his mouth is. He contributed a piece to the defunct 234next (next on Sunday) a few years ago, which he concluded by stating that, "The inability and reluctance of Nigerian TV stations to air many documentaries are down to twin reasons. A lack of a budget for documentaries tied to the reality of not wanting to pay well for independently-produced documentaries and a lack of the creative foresight that most TV programmes other than the News are farmed out or sourced from independent producers."

Needless to say, Fiofori also sees documentary filmmaking as his social responsibility and is not only deploying his widow's mite in producing them, but is now collaborating with the younger generation.

by Amarachukwu Iwuala

First published in iREP 2015 Newsletter - Day 2, with the support of iRep FilmFest and Goethe-Institut Nigeria.