Training workshop improving the professional skills of young journalists concluded in Dhuusamareeb city, Galmudug State
Mogadishu, Tuesday, August 15, 2023: A training workshop intended to enhance the professional skills of twenty young journalists was recently concluded in Dhuusamreeb City, Galmudug State. The two-day journalism course, organized and conducted by the Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ) from August 13th to 14th, 2023, aimed to improve the professional capacity of the newly employed young journalists, particularly in the ethics of journalism.
The course covered various topics such as journalism ethics, media law, gender-sensitive reporting, the use and critique of social media, and combating disinformation.
Similar training workshops had previously been conducted in Mogadishu, Kismayo, and Baidoa for sixty young journalists newly hired in those respective areas.
During the opening remarks, Hussein Hirsi, the Deputy Minister of Information of Galmudug Regional State, emphasized that the training initiative was intended to empower and enhance the professional reporting skills of the young journalists. He encouraged them to utilize their learning in their ethical reporting to attract a larger audience to their media outlets.
Hassan Fantastic, the Director of the Training Department at the Ministry of Information of Galmudug State, expressed his expectation that the training would bring about positive changes in the quality of news and program content transmission for the media outlets.
Mohamud Osman Abdulle, the Secretary General of the Galmudug Journalists Association (GALJA), praised the cooperation between FESOJ and the Ministry of Information, highlighting the efforts of Galmudug journalists to enhance their education. He viewed the training as an opportunity to further strengthen their professional skills.
Farah Omar Nur, the Secretary General of FESOJ, emphasized the importance of improving the ethical practices and responsible use of social media among young journalists. He advised the participants to apply what they learned in their work and always respect the ethics of journalism.
The participating young journalists expressed their appreciation for the training and noted the knowledge and experience they gained from the program, which would benefit their current media work.
Additionally, FESOJ conducted a training session with six trusted individuals from three media houses in Dhuusamareeb city, Galmudug State. The main objectives of the training were to promote awareness and understanding of labor rights and the importance of trade unions, as well as to train the newly elected trusted individuals in their tasks of addressing labor rights issues in their workplaces. The participants consisted of three male and three female journalists from Radio Daar-Dheer, Radio Galgaduud, and Radio Dayah.
The training workshop for the young journalists and the trusted persons is part of a series of capacity building program activities funded by the EU, supported by Free Press Unlimited (FPU) and implemented by FESOJ in cooperation with VIKES.
