UNESCO, Kenya Union of Journalists team up to train 200 journalists
By Dickson Odhiambo
December 9, 2020
UNESCO, Kenya Union of Journalists team up to train 200 journalists
The Kenya Union of Journalists in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and European Union is targeting at least 200 journalists for a training program to boost their skills while covering disruption caused by Covid-19 pandemic.
The virtual training that started on December 3, is expected to help journalists understand professional code of conduct to enhance their capacity to report Covid-19 to instill adherence to professional ethics.
The Kenya Union of Journalists General Secretary Eric Oduor says the training will be done in two phases to benefit journalists especially those based in counties across the country.
Oduor says the training comes as an intervention to boost the capacity of journalists who are currently facing professional challenges while reporting Covid-19 pandemic that has seen massive job losses in newsrooms.
“Journalists are playing a very critical role during these difficult times, which requires them to continuously upgrade their skills and ensure adherence to professional code of conduct,” Oduor says.
Oduor says 200 journalists are being drawn from 50 media institutions comprising TV, radio (private, public, and community), newspapers, and online digital media) across the 47 counties in Kenya with a focus on community media and accredited by the Media Council of Kenya (MCK).
“Covid-19 has aggravated injuries inflicted by technology in newsrooms and there is a need to improve skills and capacity of journalists to generate content that is not offensive to professional code of conduct,” Oduor adds.
Oduor says even the sensitive nature of the Covid-19 pandemic and the trauma surrounding it, it’s required that the media remains professional and guard against misreporting as this will make containment measures hard to implement.
The Code of Conduct of Practice of Journalism in Kenya states that accuracy and fairness is a requirement for all journalists when handling matters of public interest such as Covid-19 that continue to affect citizens, health and the economy.
“Acknowledging the important role played by community media in rallying the country to adhere to Covid-19 containment measures, the training will pay attention to journalists working within the communities to work without bias or stereotype and diversity of expressions, opinion, and ideas in context, especially in the campaign to contain the spread of the coronavirus,” he further says.
During the ongoing training, the journalists will also be taken through accountability as required by the code of conduct to ensure they respond to public concerns and correct errors promptly about Covid-19 and also observe intrusion to grief and shock, especially when handling victims and survivors of Covid-19.
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