(Photo: Omar Faye)
By Mustapha Ceesay
A three-day training on conflict sensitive journalism and countering hate speech for 25 Gambian journalists is underway at a local hotel in Kololi.
The training, which began on Monday and scheduled to end on Wednesday, is organised by the International Press Centre in Nigeria and funded by the UNESCO Regional Office in Dakar, Senegal (UNESCO Dakar).
The Minister of Information, a representative of the Secretary General & head of civil service, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Executive Director of International Press Centre, President of the Gambia Press Union, among others, graced the opening ceremony.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ms. Seraphine Wakana, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in The Gambia said ensuring that journalists’ reporting of conflict is more insightful, comprehensive, and balanced; is not only critical for avoiding the flaming of division or enticing of hatred in sensitive context; but promotes understanding and tolerance necessary to positively influence conflict resolution and peacebuilding.
Lanre Arogundade, Executive Director, International Press Centre (IPC), outlined the reason for conducting the training for the Gambian journalists.
“Conflicts, it must be emphasised, are sometimes inevitable and normally present many challenges for the media which is why capacity building programmes like this, are (a) major imperative. But among the challenges is the provision of adequate resources and protection of journalists’ welfare as it is the media that governments and the people rely on to establish the truth about the causes and perpetrators of conflicts,” he said.
Muhammed S. Bah, President of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) hailed the timeliness of the capacity building.
“This training is timely, and highly important because the Gambia came from a Presidential Election and during the campaign, we have seen how politicians were spreading hate speech and some media amplifying it. However, I would want to commend some of our colleagues who decided not to entertain any form of Hate speech and by extension flagging it,” he said.
Bah underscored the need for journalists to understand conflict, its causes, its consequences and the various actors in order to be diverse in their reporting and avoid being biased.
The conflict sensitive journalism and countering hate speech targets 50 journalists from the print, online, commercial radio, TV, community radio, and includes freelancers. The first set of 25 participants were trained from 1-3 February and the 2nd set of 25 participants are being trained from 7-9 February, 2022.
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