The Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) has completed a training on upcoming elections and constitution-making coverage for 30 journalists in Warrap State.
The three-day training, with financial support from UNESCO, commenced on Wednesday and ended on Friday.
Lead facilitator Oliver Modi, said the training aimed at building the capacity of journalists to report news professionally during the upcoming elections, the constitution-making, their safety and on conflict reporting rules.
“The training provided journalists with the skills of reporting in conflict situations and how to conduct programs for the candidates in the studios, such as probing their manifestoes and giving the listeners a chance to ask politicians questions,” he said.
Modi said they had also trained the journalists on the election laws and on enlightening the people on the polling procedures and the citizens’ rights during elections.
UJOSS Deputy President Ajak Ater said the training equipped journalists to cover elections professionally.
“We organized training in Kuajok on how to cover the December 22 General Election because this will be the first poll in the country,” she said.
Some journalists who spoke to Radio Tamazuj said they benefitted from the training on techniques of covering elections.
Amin Marol from the Warrap state-owned FM said she learnt how to report on elections and her safety as a woman.
“We have acquired a lot of skills and knowledge, but I will focus on the coverage of elections and the democratic media,” she said.
Dawud Dau Ngor said the training taught him about impartial reporting and safeguarding his security while on duty.
“South Sudan is heading to an election and one of the areas covered was how journalists should not be bias and how they can protect themselves when covering election campaigns,” he said.