ChangeWaves

News is when a man bites a dog, so I was taught in journalism school. But when a dog bites man, it is not news because it is the usual. The former is bizarre, unusual, strange name it and we all believed so. After all, it is what we see on the front pages.
Whereas that may be true, I have learnt to think otherwise. Sometimes the ‘usual’ things could also be news. Many organisations have many success stories that have remained untold. Largely because we all depend on the mainstream media which looks at the ‘man bites dog’ kind of news.
But why do so many good things that our organisations do remain untold? Why do so many successful projects end without a trace whatsoever?
If you read some of the documentation written about projects or organisations, they are full of jargon – Nongovernmental organisations, policy makers, change agents name it.
Can we STOP the jargon and give all these terms a human face?
For example
Are there people who have benefited from the project or organisation?
Can we profile these people, villages, or groups of people that have benefited from the project?
Most often, such stories cannot be carried on the front pages of mainstream newspapers because ‘it is not news’ as editors would say. Then what options do we have? As a citizen journalist, I will go with the rest of the world and say Web 2.0. Make use of blogs, podcasts, social networking forums like Facebook, Skype, Twitter, the list is endless.
ChangeWaves can help you document some of your best practices and give your organisation a human face. Move away from the jargon and talk about the real issues, benefits and real people.