Namibia: Training for radio journalists needed

Media educators and professionals, as well as representatives of intergovernmental organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on Friday highlighted the need for the establishment of a training programme for local radio and television presenters.

The training will be to ensure that presenters keep the content of local programmes grounded on principles.

The discussion was brought up at the follow-up meeting to the Audit of Gender in Media Education in Namibia that was held late last year.

The purpose of the follow-up meeting was to agree on how a toolkit on gender in media training shall be localised within the Namibian context, and to look at the ways forward in developing a gender-based module for journalism education in Namibia.

“There is a need to develop courses to teach non-journalists in media to become aware of media operations,” said Hugh Ellis, a lecturer in the Journalism Department at the Polytechnic of Namibia.

The argument was that there is currently no monitoring or control with regard to topics discussed on radio by DJs and presenters, thus they are not held accountable for anything they may say.

“These presenters say whatever they want. There is no one playing the gatekeeping role at all. We need to plant seeds of accountability with our budding journalists, especially with regard to sources for their programmes,” said Robin Tyson, a media lecturer at the University of Namibia.

The workshop was organised by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in co-operation with Gender Links, a regional NGO based in Johannesburg.

Gender Link’s Colleen Lowe Morna facilitated the workshop and according to her, the Namibian media are making progress in terms of the use of women as sources.

She however pointed out that the media tend to give more platform to those in authority, a trend she says overlooks the voices of the majority of women in society. She suggested that media and gender activists work together in order to curb the problem.

- February 19, 2010 by Selma Shipanga

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Source: www.namibian.com.na/index.php (accessed on 22.02.10)