Monrovia – The Liberia Media Center on Jallah Town Road was a busy area over the weekend for high school press clubs as Internews-Liberia, in collaboration with Youth Media Action, organized an intensive workshop on basic journalism and electoral reform.
The 3-day activities, from May 16 to the 18, 2019 covered Basic Journalism, Fake News, Electoral Reform, Mobile Journalism and Using Facebook for high school journalism, amongst others.
The seminar brought together 27 participants including 20 high school students and seven Youth Media Action staff.
Lenn Miller, Bethesda Mission School, Soltiamon Christian School System, Paynesville Seventh Day Adventist, Calvary Baptist, Muslim Congress, First Assembly of God High School on Buchanan Street, St. Simon Baptist High School, Ocean View High School and Kingdom of Hope in Bernard’s Farm are the schools that benefited from the training.
Internews-Liberia Journalism Quality and Reporting Adviser, Samuka Konneh, who facilitated the workshop along with other Internews staff, termed the workshop as a one stop-shop where students were given essential knowledge in the various topics.
Konneh added that High School Journalism has a critical role to play in rejuvenating and strengthening the Liberian media and that is the reason why his organization continues to provide more training opportunities for those he believes are the future of the media profession.
He asserted that the training also offered in-depth knowledge and skills on Electoral Reform, which prompted a mock debate on the topic among the participants to be replicated at their various institutions in order to widen the discussions around Electoral Reform.
“Internews-Liberia may not be here for forever, so make use of every single opportunity that they provide because no matter what, you are one that will fill that gap when they shall have gone,” he stated.
The Internews-Liberia Journalism Quality and Reporting Adviser noted that the Mock Debate is a demonstration of the critical role of high school students, especially press club members, play if electoral reform is to be successful.
Also speaking, the Deputy Chief of Party of the Liberia Media Development Program (LMDP) at Internews, Musitin Tawedzegwa said Internews is excited to be working with a group of young people who are desirous of being journalists.
Twedzegwa noted that one of the world’s biggest challenges is lack of information, something he said must adequately be addressed.
Despite Internews-Liberia ongoing works with journalist, who are already in mainstream reporting, he thinks that it is also very important to empower people at tender age who pursuing a career in Journalism.
Mr. Twedzegwa re-affirmed Internews-Liberia’s commitment to media development for the dissemination of quality and adequate information in Liberia and the world-at-large.
“The world is facing a lot of problem right now; one of the biggest challenges is lack of information and working people like you at this tender age pursuing this field is actually the prime of our being here in Liberia,” he stated.
For his part, the Executive Director of Youth Media Action, Varmah Kamara, rained praises on Internews-Liberia for prioritizing High School Journalism, which he believes is a key pillar in media development.
Kamara revealed that prior to Internews-Liberia’s involvement with his organization, it was extremely difficult to organize such trainings for high school students, who are passionate about Journalism.
He believes that with the new wave of change, high schools press clubs will serve as a recruitment ground for future professionals to fill the gap left behind due to people seeking greener pasture or deaths.
The YMA Executive Director at the same time challenged the participants to use the knowledge acquire to make a difference in their respective high schools.