By Elah Geoffrey Mbongale
Dozens of journalists from the North West, South West and Littoral regions of the country last May 3-5, 2017 honed their skills on election reporting during a three-day seminar organized by the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Limbe.
The seminar which came on the back drop of the celebrations marking the World Press Freedom Day which was observed under the theme “Critical minds for critical times: Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies.”, was aimed at arming the media men with the necessary tools to cover the upcoming Presidential, legislative and municipal elections billed for 2018.
The regional Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy for Central Africa, Ahowanou Agbessi while saluting the efforts by the election governing body, ELECAM for promoting the training of journalists on election reporting also added that media professionals should have the capacity operate during this critical period.
He noted that since 2014, the whole of Central Africa has been in election process and the UN has been organising such workshops in other countries like Chad, Congo, Gabon etc. He stressed that the workshop is aimed at strengthening the knowledge of media men on the electoral code and other related documents in other to make informed reports on the election process.
“Freedom of press should be guided and used for the interest of the population reason why the Centre seeks to strengthen the ethical and deontology values of journalists especially during election period”, Agbessi said, adding that the role of the journalists will be to promote a violence-free electoral process during next year’s multiple elections.
The UNCHRD-CA facilitator, Franklin Kiven while drilling journalists told them that the media’s role is to inform, educate the voter to make informed choices on when and how to decide. He also added that the media has to provide alternative proposals of each candidate while analysing their strengths and weaknesses.
Other experts from ELECAM, UNESCO and seasoned Journalists like The SUN’s Adolf Mongo Dipoko helped the journalists hone their skills in preparation for the upcoming multiple elections.