Breaking protocol

Abstract

The advent of online newspapers has ushered in a new era of participatory journalism whereby the stringent logic of the media is subverted. Editors no longer dictate the rules of engagement and readers are free to express themselves anyhow. Before the introduction of the online newspaper version, the only available method of providing feedback to the newspapers was the “letter to the editor”, which needed to conform to certain editorial prescriptions, such as sticking to the language used in the newspaper, stipulated length, disclosure of personal identity, as well as adhering to ethical considerations. The new online media environment has therefore liberated newspaper readers from the shackles of editorial gatekeeping and the media gatekeepers’ tyranny as they are now free to deliberate in a language of their choice, thereby enabling them to mix the language of the media and indigenous languages. This chapter explores indigenous language usage practices among online news in Zimbabwe. In particular, the chapter examines indigenous language use practices among online news commentators in two Zimbabwean dailies with a view to shedding light on the future of African indigenous knowledge in the context of globalisation. It argues that the use of indigenous languages in online deliberations represents a form of counter-hegemony in the sense that it brings about opportunities for local language speakers to interact and generate content in online spaces, thereby subverting the logic of the mainstream newspaper. By interrogating journalistic output and conversing among themselves in their mother tongue, citizens are able to challenge journalistic and political authority, as well as ensuring that indigenous languages become part and parcel of the global media culture, thereby countering western hegemonic epistemology.

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