The Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) with support from UNMISS, UNESCO, and UNDP is training over 40 journalists in reporting the constitution-making and parliamentary business.
The two-day workshop that ends today Wednesday will see the accreditation of the journalists drawn from several media houses as parliamentary reporters according to UJOSS President Patrick Oyet Charles.
Speaking during the opening of the workshop in Juba on Tuesday, UJOSS President Patrick Oyet Charles said several similar pieces of training will be held for the same participants to develop their capacity in reporting parliamentary business.
“This capacity building will be continuous, it will not be a one-day thing. One of our expectations is that the same people should continue to attend this parliamentary reporting training so that their capacity is built,” Oyet said. “The same journalists from various media houses should be accredited to parliament.”
The UJOSS president advised the reporters who will be accredited to parliament to form a parliamentary reporters association and form a WhatsApp group to ease coordination of their work. Oyet also urged the journalists to register and obtain membership identity cards from the union (UJOSS) so that they can easily be helped in case they have a problem.
For his part, the UNMISS’ political affairs officer, Obiorah Ndubisi, said training journalists is one of their priorities.
“This workshop is one of our priority activities. We aim to partner with UNESCO, the ministry of parliamentary affairs, Media Authority, and UJOSS,” Ndubisi said. “The objective of this workshop is to build the capacity of journalists in reporting on the Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly (RTNLA).”
Ndubisi added that the media is important in increasing civic engagement in the country.
Tap Pant, UNESCO’s head of education unit called on the government of South Sudan to respect freedom of expression to create a conducive environment for journalists.
“I want to call on the government and other stakeholders to keep these important articles, 24 and 32 as stated in the constitution, as journalists play an important role towards enhancing public participation and civic engagement towards achieving development and democracy in the society,” Pant said.
The UNESCO official added that the training on parliamentary Reporting should also be rolled across the states in South Sudan.
Speaking at the same event, the UNDP representative, Andrew Suruma, said the training on constitution-making and parliamentary reporting came at the right time.
“This workshop is both timely and important because it comes within the formation of the reconstituted parliament and the advancement of the transitional phase which includes the post-conflict constitution-making process,” Suruma said.
In his presentation, the director-general of the South Sudan Media Authority, Sapana Abuyi, said journalists should be conflict-sensitive when reporting the news to create peace in South Sudan.
“Conflict-sensitive reporting should be encouraged to create a conducive environment. In this era, it is important for the media to filter all news to ensure accuracy,” Abuyi said.