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ZIMPAPERS Group CEO, Pikirayi Deketeke, reckons local arts journalists should write stories which appeal to their own people.
He believes local visual artists need the support of knowledgeable arts reporters who can easily interpret and market their collections.
Addressing arts journalists from the Zimpapers stable at Herald House, Deketeke hailed their “marriage’ with the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.
“Previously, what was being done was being done for the white community, but today we are writing for our people.
“How do our people appreciate the art that is being produced by their own kids? How do they buy that art and put it in their own homes because we are not only producing that art for tourists?”
Deketeke said the Covid-19 pandemic opened the eyes of local visual artists as the creative sector suffered a lot.
“When tourists don’t come, especially during the Covi-19 pandemic era, the art world almost collapses.
“So, let’s find a way of rekindling interest in our people who buy our own newspapers and read our digital platforms.
“You guys (arts journalists) need to support a movement that is growing.”
He added:
“It is critical that we are fully equipped but when you are writing, especially in the arts, you are more knowledgeable than an ordinary guy.
“Because you are not only the official media but we are the biggest media house in the country and people expect that what we write makes a big deal and we have facts and know what we are writing about.
“When we went to journalism school, there was no journalism degree, it was regarded as a craft or skill that we have for writing.
“A lot of you guys have media degrees but this media degree never allows you to specialise that is why journalism is addressed as the jack of all trades.”