By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG), in partnership with the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), has trained 80 journalists in Freetown on reporting on emergencies, with focus on the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
The one day training was conducted on the 4th of May at the YWCA Hall, targeting journalists from print and electronic media in Freetown. Other categories of media professionals, including DJs, were also invited to be part of the training.
A similar training will also be conducted in Bo in the South and Makeni in the Northern region, according to officials.
According to the Chairman of MRCG, Dr. Francis Sowa, a total of 180 journalists will be trained in the coming weeks.
“We know that already the capacity exist, but we are adding on to that capacity so they (journalists) will be in a position to understand the key messages, facts about COVID -19, be in position to report on emergencies and to deal with issues around fake news and how to stop its spread; and to also remind them about ethical provisions even as they continue to cover COVID-19,” Dr Sowa said.
Even though he recognized the need for the training to be conducted earlier, the journalism lecturer said the training was still very relevant because the world is still learning gradually about the virus.
“Even the literature on COVID-19 is new and it’s growing every day. So the knowledge of Covid-19 is increasing every day. It is not late in terms of given them updated information. What they got from the training from NACOVERC [National Covid-19 Emergency Operation Center] for example, is not only about what the disease is but current information about even the status of the disease within the country,” he said.
Dr Sowa went on to highlight the important role played by Sierra Leone’s media to ensure timely information dissemination and educate the public about COVID-19.
One of the facilitators of the training, Dr. Tonya Musa, also a journalism lecturer, took the participants through one of the most critical and crucial challenging issues in the fight against COVID-19 in Sierra Leone and in other parts of the word - fake news.
In his presentation on the topic: ‘Understanding, identifying, checking and debunking fake news on COVID-19', Dr. Musa, who is former Head of the Department of Mass communication at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, noted the different types of information in an era of social media in dealing with emergencies such as misinformation, disinformation and mal-information, leading to fake news and its attendant consequences.
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