WE WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO REBRAND OUR BELOVED SIERRA LEONE TO THE INTERNATIONAL WORLD We at COCORIOKO have set up another online newspaper to beef up our capacity on the internet. Everybody is online now. When you look at the various Sierra Leonean forums on Facebook, you notice that almost everybody that matters is now on Facebook. Just take time off your busy schedule and study the composition of many forums on Facebook. That is why it is very important that we be wary about what we post on the social media. Your boss, in-law or your childhood friend you have not seen for decades or your old primary or secondary school teacher or your religious leader or former students, if you had been a teacher before, might be reading all your posts. If you have a tendency for profanities or foolish arguments and quarrels with USELESS and UNIMPORTANT people, you are belittling yourself to the whole world at large . More importantly, the Mass Communications experts will tell you Journalism today has evolved into what the experts call CONVERGENT JOURNALISM. This is a revolutionary and evolutionary form of journalism that now merges various forms of media platforms. With the evolution of multiple media, no longer do print newspapers hold domain in the mass communications world. Information is now mostly received in the online news outlets and the social media. That is why everybody is rushing to be online and also join Facebook , Twitter, Whatsapp and other social media. By the time newspapers print and sell the news today, people have alreay read it online and in the social media. The great thing is that online news and features have an IMMEDIACY about them that beat print media by a distance. For example, as soon as the Mayor of Kono, my good friend Mr. Lamina , Umaru Fofana and others got involved in an accident yesterday, within minutes the news and pictures were on Facebook. We even saw some of the victims at the hospital being wheeled in for treatment. Similarly, when former Attorney General Serry Kamal died last week, it took but only minutes before the news hit the social media and started circulating. We all know that the Arab Spring was started on the social media. We must there fore never underrate the power of the internet. Some misguided and ignorant people like to delude themselves by saying that there is erratic electricity in Sierra Leone and not many people have access to computers so the influence of the internet is minimal. THAT IS A BIG LIE. The internet predominates everywhere in the world today , even Sierra Leone. Thanks to cell phones, even Joe Blow in faraway Leymbema Village lying in his hammock or working in his farm can access the internet through his cellphone. We who run newspapers online know that our readership is far, far larger than most print newspapers in Sierra Leone. Most newspapers in Sierra Leone print and sell less than 1, 000 copies. How many people have the time to sit down and read them fully ? This is why Western mass communications experts think that print newspapers will one day become extinct. It can be seen from the dropping sales and the folding up of newspapers in America. When I post news on the various forums on Facebook, I am able to reach about 50, 000 people immediately. This is no joke. About 50, 000 people receive the news immediately on their cellphones, IPAD, tablets , laptops and desk tops . How do I know that I am creating impact ? I know because I do not need to be introduced to any Sierra Leonean any more. When I go to functions around the U.S. and the last time I was in the UK or France, people come to greet me and introduce themselves to me . I never need to introduce myself. Even when diverse delegations from Sierra Leone come to New York to attend meetings or conferences at the UN, nobody needs to introduce me to anyone on the delegation. They know me already. Dr. Brima Kargbo and I met on the street in New York when he led a delegation to an AIDS Summit at the UN. I was looking at him curiously because he looked like my Sierra Leonean brother. He too was looking at me intently. Then he called my name .I was surprised. He then introduced himself as Dr.Kargbo. I know it is the same with other media personnel. We no longer need to be introduced. Everybody knows us. When Mr. Foday Mansaray and Dr. Bankole Gibson go anywhere in the provinces in Sierra Leone, not to mention Freetown, people know them already. They do not need to introduce themselves in many gatherings. Thus online media reach the people far more than print media. Thus, the future of journalism is on the internet and the social media. The more we build capacity on the internet and the social media, the better. This is why we at COCORIOKO think that the more online media, the merrier. We need every media platform to nullify the false impressions some people want to give the world about our President, our leaders and our country. We can no longer take the propaganda of the detractors for granted . A new Editor -in-Chief will soon be appointed. Our philosophy is the more, the merrier. You can read it online at sierraleonedailynation. This newspaper also has a forum online with over 7, 000 members. We will do everything to ensure that we REBRAND our beloved Sierra Leone to the international world. We think that Sierra Leone is a great country and she deserves to enjoy copious investments and a flourishing tourist industry that will help us to garner more resources to build our country. It is the duty of all Sierra Leoneans to rebrand their country. Emergent nations like Ghana, Liberia, Rwanda, Botswana have very serious citizens who want to see their countries prevail. Thus , though they criticize their countries , they make sure that they do not destroy them, like we want to do to our beloved Sierra Leone. I call on all Sierra Leoneans to join the REBRANDING CRUSADE. Sierra Leone is our motherland. We must not sit down and allow destructive people who care only for their tribes, regions and political parties to destroy the country that made us what we are today. As for me, only over my dead body will I relent to rebrand my country. I will never be intimidated or discouraged .The more attacks, the more I am convinced that it is because I am making a mighty impact and the more I will continue writing things that project my country in a positive light to the international world . Join us . LEAD, FOLLOW OR STAY BEHIND.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 11:47:48 +0000
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