By Steve Werblow
IFAJ Secretary General
In person and via Facebook Live, budding Caribbean agricultural journalists connected for an innovative Agrimediathon organized by 2019 IFAJ/Corteva Master Class alumnus Keron Bascombe. The Agrimediathon included professional development topics ranging from developing strong agricultural story angles to using the latest social media tools to reach broad audiences.
The program kicked off on Saturday, November 16 with an online webinar by Steve Werblow, freelance writer/photographer and secretary-general of IFAJ. Based on a survey of media and a wide variety of agricultural practitioners who had expressed interest in participating in a webinar, the 90-minute session focused on identifying agricultural journalism as a field, developing story ideas, pitching articles and working together in a guild. The call attracted 27 participants in real time, and Bascombe delivered a recording to more than four dozen colleagues throughout the Caribbean.
On Friday, November 22, 12 professionals gathered at the offices of the Namdevco Packing House in Piarco, Trinidad—and several more tuned in via Facebook Live—for the in-person Agrimediathon session. Hosted by Bascombe and two associates in his company, Tech4Agri, Jamala Alexander and Krystle Gay, the workshop included a wide range of sessions with global participation, including:
- A presentation on the agricultural journalism around the world, centered on the 2017 IFAJ member survey by Werblow, who attended on IFAJ’s behalf to help encourage guild development.
- A live, online discussion of trends and challenges in agricultural journalism with Master Class alumnus Basani Bufana of Zimbabwe, IFAJ/Alltech Young Leader Prince Appiah of Ghana, and Susanna Cartmell-Thorpe of Wren Media in the U.K.
- A live demonstration of mobile video editing apps by Trinidadian videographer Renaldo Matamoro of RM Productions, a Tech4agri associate.
- An online engagement with American journalist Benét Wilson of Mercer University and Aviation Queen LLC on future trends in online journalism.
- A demo of 360 video on a Trinidad farm produced by Bascombe and fellow Trinidadian videographer Keron Joseph.
Bascombe says he hopes that in addition to providing professional development and networking opportunities, the Agrimediathon also planted the seed for a guild of Caribbean agricultural journalists. Among the island nations, he notes, agricultural journalism is not widely recognized and many young professionals are struggling to create markets for their own work.
“To me, a guild would definitely be working towards a system that would be bringing jobs to the freelancers and small enterprises,” Bascombe explains. “The aim is to say, ‘let’s encourage more persons developing these services and create more people demanding these services.’ We can have a healthier local ecosystem for agricultural stories.”
