Our Reporter Off To Ghana, says " I Have An Ambition To Be An Editor or Even A Proprietor"

Ms. Meita Touray YOUNG PEN PUSHER: aiming high

The only female journalist working for The Gambia News and Report weekly Magazine, Ms. Meita Touray left for Accra, Ghana for a two weeks training program.

Meita alongside three other Gambian journalists- Mam Ndegene Secka Today Newspaper, Nyima Jadama Standard and Mamadou Dem Foroyaa Newspaper, after a vigorous selection process in Germany were selected from The Gambia.

As a young female journalist, “I believe this upcoming training on ‘Media Freedom and Responsibility in the Media’ will enable me to share experience with my colleagues,” said Touray.

Again, “being the only female journalist at News and Report, I have an ambition to be an editor or even a proprietor of a newspaper in future” the young female reporter confided in this interview.

The International Institute for Journalism (IIJ) of GIZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit Germany organised the two-week training course on “Freedom and Responsibility in the Media” that kicked off on August 22.  

It is meant for journalists from member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The IIJ course would be conducted in cooperation with the Ghana International Press Centre in Accra. 

The course aims to examine the interdependence between quality and ethics in journalism; and also it seeks to empower journalists to make ethical decisions even under difficult circumstances. 

In addition, the Ghana-held training aims at directing the attention to one of the key ethical challenges: the past as a major factor influencing the political climate and agenda of the presence. 

 Ms. Touray said during the first week, the training would impart a knowledge base of fundamental journalistic standards, their reasons of being, ways to implement them in journalistic practice, and practical tips for the everyday work in the newsroom. 

During the second week, the course is expected to look at the issue “dealing with the past” in both conflict and post-conflict societies. 

This, she said, includes a multitude of ethical dilemmas the media face when attempting to report conflicts in a way that exposes the roots, presents alternatives and induces change.

When asked when she started practicing journalism, she replied: “I was recruited into journalism practice in 2008, a year after completing my Senior Secondary School education. 

“I developed professional skills through practical reporting on general issues and other specific areas including the courts, human rights, reporting on children as well as women issues.”

 She recalled however that, since her school days, journalism was her area of interest. 

Her capacity as ‘General Assignment Reporter’ at News and Report, as Touray noted, has availed her the opportunity to cover different kinds of events, among them high profile, and file in stories for public consumption.

“Therefore, I see this upcoming training on ‘Media freedom and Responsibility in the media’ as a stepping stone for me to make my dreams come true,” she positioned.

Touray is also hopeful that the training would boost her morale, motivation and experience in responsible journalism and, also help her carry out the mandate and responsibilities in the media by holding the government accountable to the citizenry.

Touray , who said has no intention of keeping the knowledge gained to herself has vowed that the knowledge gained during the training be will shared with my colleagues in the media, she positioned.

It is her strong belief that the training would empower her as a journalist to make ethical decisions even under difficult circumstances.  

She used the occasion to thank the Management and Staff of The Gambia News and Report, the only current affairs magazine in Banjul for the support.

She particularly expressed her appreciation of the support rendered to her, by the Proprietor of the Gambia News and Report, doyen journalist Mr. Swaebou Conateh, Mr. Ismaila M.S. Naban Editor-in-Chief, and Mamadou Edrisa Njie, Editorial Assistant/ Newsroom Coordinator since she started inking with the magazine.

“I am most grateful to the editorial team under Mr. Naban and Edrisa Njie for their support and advice, they has been giving to reporters, the courage and zeal that they always inspires in the young ones.”

Ms. Touray further hailed the good relationship that exists amongst the members of staff at the magazine- seeing themselves as one family.

She also expressed her profound gratitude to IIJ of GIZ for organising the training course for ECOWAS journalists. (IIJ) of GIZ

Upon completion of the full course participants will be granted a certificate of attendance. 

In April, 2010, Mamadou Edrisa Njie attended a similar training course in Accra, Ghana on ‘ The Media’s Role in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building’.

Shortly after attending the training course, he was promoted to the position from been Senior Staff Reporter to now Editorial Assistant/ Newsroom Coordinator.