MSc Journalism & Media Studies (NUST, Zim),

BSc (Hons) Journalism & Media Studies (NUST, Zim)

Email: blessing.jona@nust.ac.zw

Blessing Tapiwa Jona is a lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies. He is a holder of a Master of Science Degree in Journalism and Media Studies (NUST) and currently, he is a Graduate Teaching Assistant and a Ph.D. in Journalism and Mass Communications student at the University of Kansas’ William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Blessing is also a filmmaker, Humphrey Fellowship alumnus, and Robert Bosch African Filmmaking Fellowship alumnus. He has practical skills in audio-visual storytelling, screenwriting, filmmaking, and editing. In 2017 Blessing participated in the Steppingstone Africa Filmmaking Fellowship at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.  During the 2022-2023 Humphrey Fellowship at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Blessing was part of a student sustainability documentary filmmaking team that produced Forgotten Children of Mother Magma, a 10-minute documentary which went on to win 3rd place in the short form documentary category of BEA's 2023 Festival of Media Arts Awards. Another film that he contributed to, Flash Point: The History of Peoria Fire-Medical Department, was released by the City of Peoria, Arizona, USA, in 2024. In this film Blessing contributed to the cinematography and editing. 

Research Interests: Blessing’s research interests lie in narrative persuasion, reception analyses, and content and textual analyses of popular films and other media texts’ representations of lived experiences in general, and within the realm of Health Communication in particular.

Teaching Interests: Blessing has teaching experience in Media Texts and Audiences; Popular Culture: Theories and Perspectives; Communication and Media Theories; Research Methodology in Journalism and Media Studies; and Fundamentals of Film and Video Production, just to mention a few. At the University of Kansas Blessing has spread his wings and is currently teaching Data Storytelling.

LinkedIn: Feel free to follow Blessing and interact with him on LinkedIn.