The Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) on Tuesday this week trained journalists in Warrap State to effectively disseminate peace messages and promote gender quality in local languages.
The three days training has drawn about 25 journalists from Door FM, Don Bosco in Tonj South County, Mayardit FM, and Kuajok government-owned radio.
Majak Daniel Kuany, UJOSS Secretary general, said the training, supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will take three days and that on the last day, the journalists will elect their leaders.
“We are here in Kuajok, the capital of Warrap State, to train journalists, capacitating them to do their work professionally, for without doing that, there is going to be inaccuracy in reporting, and news should not be biased. So we want to sharpen that,” he said.
He adds, “At the end of the three days, we are going to restructure the leadership of the UJOSS branch office in Warrap State because it has stayed inactive for a while since we came into the office in 2021. That is why we want to complete the restructure such that journalists should have vibrant offices to leverage journalists’ rights.”
Doreen Loboka, UNESCO’s communication specialist, urged journalists to deliver the information in languages understood by the communities there.
“Bring up local voices, and I want you to use local languages in every activity you are doing in the radio stations because the illiteracy rate is still very high. Be it elections, peace messages, and constitution-making process or promotion of gender equality, you need local languages so that stereotyping of women and girls are brought up,” she said.
Meanwhile, Deborah Udwel Okech, Warrap State’s acting governor, urges journalists to desist from hate speech.
“We are grateful for your coming here to train journalists. It is good to remind ourselves and you journalists that it is your responsibility to handle carefully hate speech in the media because it is not well received in the community. Get enough knowledge from the team to equip you and do your work professionally,” she said.