The Ghana News Agency (GNA) journalists from the northern zone of the country, have received basic training in multimedia news production and reporting.
The training was part of the capacity building programme being implemented by the Agency to equip its reporters and editors with the requisite skills and knowledge in advocacy reporting on health, climate change, and gender as well as Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs).
The training programme is being implemented by the Social Investment Fund (SIF), under the ‘Post Covid-19 Skills Development and Productivity Enhancement Project’, a five-year post covid-19 skills development and productivity enhancement initiative of the Ghana government, with financial support from the African Development Bank.
It focused on improving the existing knowledge of journalists on advocacy reporting, especially in health, gender, climate change and MSMEs, to help write impactful stories to set national development agenda.
It also created a platform for the part
icipants to learn the theoretical and practical ways of creating documentaries, camera handling for video and photo shoots, graphic design and multimedia news production and reporting.
Dr Martin Thompson Ntem, Chief Executive of the Institute for Digital Marketing and Communication (IDMC), facilitators of the training programme, speaking on the role of MSMEs, said these enterprises contributed to the country’s economy.
However, they were often faced with challenges which impeded their growth and expansion to create jobs for the youth.
He mentioned some of the challenges facing MSMEs as lack of access to capital, unfriendly tax regimes, limited access to the market and others.
Dr Ntem said it was important for Ghanaian journalists to focus on highlighting the challenges faced by MSMEs to create platforms for policy reviews to enable them to perform and grow for the benefit of the country.
Dr Nii Nortey Hanson-Nortey, a Health Specialist, pointed out that writing on infectious and other sensitive health is
sues required journalists to have a deep understanding to inform and educate the people.
He stressed the need for journalists to build long-standing relationships with health experts and professionals to help them generate evidence-based and verifiable data on health issues before reporting.
Ms Beatrice Savage, the Director of Editorial of the Ghana News Agency, said the advocacy training workshop was to equip GNA staff with the necessary skills to provide content for subscribers.
She encouraged participants to inculcate the skills and knowledge gained at the workshop in their write-ups.
The Ghana News Agency is a state-owned news agency with the mission to contribute to the political, social, and economic development of Ghana through comprehensive news reporting.
Source: Ghana News Agency
