Monrovia – Reporters of various print and electronic media institutions in the country assigned at the Judiciary Branch of Government are benefitting from a week-long Judicial reporting training offered by USAID’s Internews.
Report by Augustine T. Tweh, [email protected]
Internews is collaborating with the Public Affairs Section of the Judiciary to conduct the workshop. The training began on Monday, April 8, 2019, and will end Saturday, April 13, 2019.
Giving the overview of the training, the Director of Communication at the Judiciary, Darryl Ambrose Nmah said the training is aimed at enhancing the knowledge of reporters covering the Judiciary Branch.
Nmah added that judicial information dissemination to the public is crucial and vital in the development of the country.
“Information dissemination to our people is very crucial, is very important to the development of their lives. Also, we emphasized that the kind of information that we sent out to our people is vital as we cover the activities of the Judiciary across the country,” Nmah said.
Speaking on behalf of the Trial Judges Association, Judge Eva Mappy-Morgan called on journalists to be responsible and ethical in their reportage, noting that integrity and ethics are the “foot fate of a good journalist”.
“Distinguish colleagues who keep us on our toes and who do the work that you are supposed to do to keep everyone transparent, everyone honest and so, even with yourselves integrity and ethics is your fateful,” She said.
Also speaking, the Chief of Party of Internews Liberia Jan McArthur said the more accurate journalists are in reporting on the justice system the better their reportage impacts society.
“The more accurate we are in reporting, the more important the information that gets out to citizens to make their lives better. It is important that we the media, and as journalists report on the facts. If we can report accurately on what we report that we can’t expect citizens to abide by laws and help Liberia grows,” she said.
At the same time, the Acting Executive Director of the James A.A. Pierre Judicial training Institute Attorney Moses Soribah said the Judiciary and the media are important for a vibrant and efficient democracy.
“The Judiciary is to uphold justice and to promote the rule of law while the media is to provide essential information for its citizens to engage in the governance of their country,” he said.
For his part, the President of the Association of Judicial Reporters (AJUR), Abednego Davies welcomed the initiative, adding that it will help enhance and shape the reportage of journalists covering the Judiciary, specifically the courts.
Davies added that there are challenges in reporting on cases at the Judiciary, especially from the courts throughout the country.
“We welcome this initiative that is designed to shape our courts reporting from the threat of contempt to the threat of libel suits and several other suits that have been melted against journalists, especially those of us who write from the courts,” he said.
“It is essential that we understand the in depts and have knowledge about the jargons, the legal terminologies that have been used in our various courts,” he asserted.
