Aspire to reach your potential by competing with people who you think you can’t beat says Paul Shalala.
Shalala is a young journalist and blogger who is based in Lusaka and
works for the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation as a Reporter.
“Am a news person and everything about me is about news. I read a lot
of literature, newspapers and books. I watch a lot of TV programs
especially news, documentaries and history programs. I also like making
friends to hear what the common man is thinking and talking about. Am
also a dot com baby. I spend most of the time on Twitter and Facebook
trying to get latest news and find out what is trending across the
world.” he says.
He says always remember that no one will uplift you and your career if you do not take the first step to leap forward.
Shalala says his specialization in the past six years he has practiced journalism is politics and governance.
He says he was born on 29th August 1984 at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka in a family of seven children.
“My father is Mr Namasiku Kamuti Shalala, a retired teacher now a farmer
in Lubanze Village, in Nangoma and my mother is Mrs Monde Phyllis
Shalala retired teacher also. I am a Christian, a Seventh - day
Adventist. ” he says.
He says he went to Kasalu Basic School in Nangoma area of Mumbwa for his Primary and Junior Secondary School.
“I then went to Mumbwa High School for my senior secondary from 2000 to
2002. I studied for a Diploma in Journalism at the Evelyn Hone College
in Lusaka from 2005 to 2007. Currently studying for my Bachelor’s degree
at the University of Zambia under Distance Education. I have also done
several specialized journalism trainings just to sharpen my journalism
skills. I studied Politics, Elections and Good Governance at the
International Institute for Journalism in Berlin, Germany, Business and
Financial Reporting by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Kampala,
Uganda, Advanced Economic and Governance Reporting by the Thomson
Reuters Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa, Energy and
Environmental Reporting as part of the Europe-Africa Young Journalists
Programme in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Investigative Journalism and
Anti-Corruption Reporting by the International Anti-Corruption Academy
during a weeklong course at the West Africa Regional Training Center in
Accra, Ghana.” he says.
Shalala says in the past years, he has worked in the print, electronic and online media.
“After college, I joined New Vision Newspaper in Lusaka where I worked
for close to two years. In 2010 I joined MUVI Television where I worked
until February 2012. I then decided to go into freelancing. I wrote for a
number of online international newspapers like The Media Project in the
USA and The London Evening Post in the UK. In September 2012, I was
offered a job as a reporter at the Zambia National Broadcasting
Corporation (ZNBC) in Lusaka. That’s where I currently work in the TV1
newsroom. I report mainly on politics and governance for our TV news but
off course our stories also air on TV2 and Radios 1, 2 and 4.” he
says.
Apart from his TV job, Shalala says he is also a blogger.
“I run my own blog called The Zambian Analyst (www.paulshalala.blogspot.com)
where I analyze politics and governance issues in Zambia and the world.
A blog is the only place where a journalist can add their own opinion
and views to a news item.” he says.
Shalala says he is also a small businessman.
“I own a company called Nangoma Transport Limited which of course is
registered by the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA). The
company is a year old and has two public service minibuses that service
the Lusaka – Mumbwa route. At the weekend when am off duty at ZNBC, I
sometimes work as a minibus conductor. It is fun sometimes to go through
the challenges conductors face on a daily basis. I’ve had experiences
where a passenger thinks you are illiterate and they start insulting you
in heavily broken English and when you respond in the Queen’s language,
the confrontation ends because your English sounds superb. I have also
had situations where you carry drunk people and they refuse to pay. It
is fun being a conductor.” he says.
He says he has received a number of media awards in the past few years he has been practicing journalism.
“In April 2014 I won first prize TV category in the Policy Monitoring
and Research Center (PMRC) for my stories and analysis of the
constitution making process. On November 14, 2014 I received second
prize in the 2014 Africa Fact Checking Media Awards in Nairobi, Kenya
for my story on the impact of multi-national mining investments on
Zambia’s food security. There were over 40 entries from journalists in
10 African countries. The first prize was won by Edem Srem of Ghana and
Kenyan journalist Victor Amadala and myself came out second. My story
had a huge impact such that dams were built for the farmers in Mazabuka
after my story was aired, a Minister visited the displaced farmers and
the plight of the displaced farmers became a priority for stakeholders.
This is why I think I won the award. On December 18, 2014 I won the Best
Innovation Award at the 2014 ZANEC Media Awards in Lusaka. The Zambia
National Education Coalition (ZANEC) awarded me for a story I wrote on
my blog on how 20,000 teachers in Zambia under the umbrella of the
Zambian Teachers Forum are running a Facebook group of over 15,000
members and a WhatsApp group of over 5,000 members to help teachers find
easy swapping from one district to another, mentor new teachers and
share best practices of the art of teaching."
Shalala says the Africa Fact Checking Media Awards are a brain child of
the collaboration between the Agence France Presse (AFP) Foundation, a
sister organization of the AFP news agency in France and Africa Check, a
journalism organization based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“The two organizations introduced these awards to inspire journalists
and help them fact check information on the continent. The two
organizations encourage journalists in Africa to follow up propaganda
and false claims made by politicians, public officials and other opinion
leaders to mislead the public. Any journalist in Africa who does a
story and fact checks a public claim can enter the awards and walk away
with thousands of dollars. Am lucky to have been the only Zambian
journalist among the eight finalists from across the continent and I was
again the only one from Southern Africa among the three who got the
awards.” he says.
He says when he received his first media award he was happy and motivated to work even more hard to get more awards.
“An award sets you apart from other colleagues when you receive it.
International awards just make one feel they can go as far as other
countries can go. We always limit ourselves to Zambia but when we take
part in these international awards, we actually discover that even
Zambians can do It.” he says.
Shalala says Awards open up opportunities.
“A week after I won the Africa Fact Checking award in November 2014, I
received an invitation from a Mozambican journalism organization called
Sekelekani to go and speak at an international journalism conference on
reporting on the extractive industry. Within three days of that
invitation, I received another invitation from the Open Society
Institute of Southern Africa (OSISA) to speak at their summer journalism
academy. Unfortunately the dates for the two invitations clashed and I
opted to go to Mozambique where I addressed Mozambican and Angolan
journalists and civil society activists in the Indian Ocean resort town
of Bilene. My target now is the CNN African Journalist of the Year
Awards. In the past years i have entered twice and lost but I haven’t
given up. Like Bembas say, one day kakabalika.” he says.
He says on a daily basis Journalists are insulted, beaten and ridiculed but one does not need to give up because there is no easy career on earth.
“All professions are challenging. Prospective journalists shouldn’t join the media fraternity for the fame or making connections. Journalism is a calling. You have to be passionate to do what reporters do. If you are not passionate, you will run away from the profession when faced by a few hardships.” he says.
He says on a daily basis Journalists are insulted, beaten and ridiculed but one does not need to give up because there is no easy career on earth.
“All professions are challenging. Prospective journalists shouldn’t join the media fraternity for the fame or making connections. Journalism is a calling. You have to be passionate to do what reporters do. If you are not passionate, you will run away from the profession when faced by a few hardships.” he says.
Shalala says his role model is Rageh Omar, a Somalian-born British journalist who has worked for the BBC and Aljazeera.
“He has received several media awards for his courageous works and was
one of a few western journalists to have covered the fall of Saddam
Hussein in 2003. His determination to cover sensitive and dangerous
stories inspires me a lot. Rageh is a war reporter and that’s what I
aspire to do when I have chance to join the international media. I hope
to report from war zones like Iraq, Afghanistan and Gaza.” he says.
He urges young people in various professions to try their luck.
“You may never know what response you may get. Don’t be defeated by the
word ‘International’. You are also international yourself if you join
others from other countries. Believe in yourself and your potential will
take you a step further.” he says.
Shalala says he would want the world to remember him as a journalist who
strived to raise governance issues and one who rose from a humble
background in the villages of Nangoma area of Mumbwa to become an award
winning journalist on the continent.
Aspire to reach your potential by competing with people who you think you can’t beat. You can do it. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
For comments: mwenyamuleba@gmail.com / 0966 461 943/ 0950 594 050
(This story was published by WM Media Pty Ltd on 4th January 2015 on their blog. The original story can be read here: http://winstonmuleba.blogspot.com/2015/01/shalala-second-prize-winner-of-2014.html)
