Journalism and Communication students should focus on writing stories in their surroundings, before venturing in matters outside their communities.

Davidson Ndyabahika, a journalist with Uganda Radio Network and former student in the Department of Journalism and Communication told second year students that good journalists start by writing the stories close to them.

"A journalism student should not just move around campus like any other students; you should always think about and find stories wherever you go," Ndyabahika told the class.

Ndyabahika was giving a guest lecture to the students on how to write news that is impactful and for publication. This is because he started writing news for publication while still a student, and currently reports on Makerere University as one of his beats.

Emmanuel Ainebyona who recently moved from Daily Monitor to the Ministry of Health as the Senior Public Relations Officer, encouraged the students to always write good stories so that they are published. “The greatest thing for a journalist is when your story is published; and so you should always aspire to have a big story every day," Ainebyona told the students.

Ainebyona applauded students in the class whose stories have been published on the Makerere Journalism and Communication news website journalism@mak.ac.ug and encouraged the students to continue writing more good stories.

John Baptist Imokola, one of the lecturers for the paper says the two former students were invited to share their experiences and inspire the current students. "One of the reasons we invited these journalists is because they have been our students before and we believe they can encourage these students to produce better news stories through sharing their experiences."

The Department of Journalism and Communication uses guest lecturers to give students a chance to interact with industry and know what is happening in the field they are preparing for.