The Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) has trained 30 journalists in Western Equatoria State on physical safety and digital security.
Oliver Modi, the Chairperson of UJOSS, told Radio Tamazuj Wednesday that the three-day training which started on Monday and ended on Wednesday in Yambio aimed at equipping the journalists with basic knowledge in ethics, safety, and impartiality. He said the training also tackled COVID-19 preventive measures.
“The quality of journalism is weak here in the state because of lack of basic training and skills,” Modi said. “The role of UJOSS is to train journalists that is why we are here to improve their knowledge and ethics so that they can provide correct, truthful, and balanced stories to the communities and the people as well.”
The UJOSS Chairperson urged the journalists to implement the Knowledge they have acquired, “my message to the journalists is that we still have a lot of work to do ahead, they have to protect themselves and also educate the public about protection from COVID-19 by telling people about the disease.”
The journalists who participated in the training, speaking to Radio Tamazuj, said they appreciated the union for the initiative and called for the extension of the training to other journalists in the State.
Waure Emmanuel Eddy, a journalist at Anisa FM in Yambio, said he got a lot of information about journalism which he did not have before and requested UJOSS to organize more and longer training for more journalists.
“We have learned a lot with what you can do in the radio station, how you can protect your property as a journalist,” Eddy said. “I am going back to my radio station and I will do my best to use the knowledge I have acquired in this training, and my message to the UJOSS is we need more training and we thank them.”
A female journalist, Rejoice Awuduman, from Maridi FM said the knowledge she got is going to help her and that she will share it with colleagues who could not attend.
“In Maridi we did not get any training. It will make me perform better at work based on the rules and regulations of journalism I have learned at this training. I will change my presentation and my way of reporting.” Awuduman said.
The training brought together 30 journalists from media houses in Maridi, Tambura, and Yambio.