Researching the use of new technologies (ICTs) in Zimbabwean newsrooms: an ethnographic approach

Abstract

This article examines the challenges of deploying ethnography to study the fluid and dispersed processes of ICT use in journalism practice. It draws on the author’s ethnographic field experience in Zimbabwean mainstream newsrooms. The article specifically focuses on the practicalities of deploying ethnography to study the fluid and diffuse processes of ICT use in the ‘real-world’ of journalism practice with the high ethnographic standard of firsthand experience. It closely examines how these challenges shaped and constrained the author’s fieldwork and attempts to highlight the strategies employed to manage them. In doing so, the article shows that there is more to gain from ones’ ‘insider-status’ and sustained intuitive and creative inclinations when researching in politically charged and unpredictable contexts such as Zimbabwean newsrooms. The discussion thus offers insight for practically negotiating methodological dilemmas likely to be faced by researchers who may find themselves in similar circumstances.