"Now I'm proud to be journalist..."
by Nick Raistrick
“It was an enriching, challenging and refreshing in many aspects. I enjoyed it!”
-trainee, Uganda
“It was very interesting. Course selection was excellent. I covered almost all the basic aspects of modern journalism. Now I'm proud to be journalist. Now I feel with the knowledge I have acquired, we shall try as much as possible to make my newspaper a paper that everybody would like to be associated with.”
-trainee, Sierra Leone
“I found that it is possible to get two different sides to come together and talk about something that happened in the past without much noise or hate using all the guidelines given.”
-trainee, Liberia
That’s a selection of feedback from the Communicating Justice project which started in 2007. It aims to raise public awareness and understanding of transitional justice mechanisms in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone as they recover from civil conflicts.
Journalists in target countries are trained in the complex issues relating to transitional justice, and how to communicate these issues effectively to their audiences.
As well as face to face training, trainees have completed a mix iLearn material in topics like reporting conflict and journalists' safety as well as specially-commissioned modules on transitional justice and international court reporting which have been produced in collaboration with the International Center for Transitional Justice.
There is also material on sensitive interviewing and interviewing vulnerable groups.
“I found reporting on children and trauma the most useful part of the course because it has helped me understand how to clearly represent children, and the importance of having stories of children in the media…Everything was relevant,”
-trainee, Uganda
The countries involved have specific legal measures in place including special courts (Sierra Leone and Burundi), truth and reconciliation commissions (Sierra Leone, Liberia, DRC, Burundi), and a variety of domestic judicial procedures (DRC, Uganda).
The challenge for journalists is to report these proceedings accurately, fairly and in such a way as to maintain audience interest.
Specific project targets include:
* Increased capacity for 100 journalists to cover TJ processes
* Increased capacity for 50 editors – to support and schedule coverage of TJ issues
* 5,000 reports/articles broadcast or published on activities of TJ mechanisms
* 5 local trainers trained – with lasting capacity to act as TJ Media Trainers post-project
* 7 local audience researchers trained – in audience research and survey techniques
* Project website – in English and French providing access to all project resources
* 10 published audience research reports - showing how audience needs and public perceptions changed and developed over the lifetime of the project.
Date: 19/01/07
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