Press Club on Basic Journalism

Gambia College Press Club Benefits From Training



NEWS BANJUL THE GAMBIA(MB)-The Press Club of the Gambia College recently benefitted from a day-long training session on writing skills, ethics of journalism and the good values of a journalist held at the Gambia College campus.
Addressing press club members of different school Mr Sam Sarr, The Editor Foroyaa News paper said that it an important step and move for them to develop their writing skills as writing required skills. According to the Editor, a journalist to not first write astray and submit it to an editor for publication but need to know the skills in writing.
He added that to form a press club in schools and to organise training is very important as it improves ones writing. Mr. Sarr recalled that during their days there was no press clubs for them to benefit from training on journalism but today if there is press clubs in school many of you who want to be journalist can start journalism in your schools through writing articles and stories that are happening in schools, as to be future journalists.
Editor Foroyaa, pointed out that in the Gambia there is no school of journalist and many of the journalists after completing their senior secondary school to be recited as journalist always benefits from in house training at their media house.
He added that the well performing journalist are all products of high schools in which re-expressed that some are members of press clubs. “Some journalists lacks skills as of how to father information’s and how to write a report.”
He went on to say that as a journalists one need to develop skills of writing information and for his/her information to be published.
As a journalist is the print you write for your readership and the electronic you broadcast for your audience or viewers, so it is very good for a journalist to balance and fair. He further stated that” if you don’t publish some thing that is relevant you will lose readership as readers always looks for relevant news. And for the broadcast if you dot broadcast something that is relevant your audience will scoff off your radio station and tune another station. He urged both print and electronic media to publish and broadcast relevant information’s that is important to lives of the readership and advance. “As journalist he advised they must be relevant as relevant is number one in writing and their information’s must also be relevant.
On captions, Mr Sarr said that every story has its own caption, and in the print media the readers first look at the caption and if the caption attract the some only read the caption and know what is contain in the story but some they read the whole story. Editor Foroyaa, added that some journalists are not skill full in five captions to their stories as some of the captions do not match with the story.
According to him, a caption must be cooperage with the story, the content should reflect with the caption so as to attract mater
As a journalist he said caption should be first given to the story then it can guide one when writing the story because” you will know what to write and what not to write”. Do not write a story without given a caption; first select the caption so as to gets guiding points. He advised. He added that journalist must be balanced when writing their stories and not to be bias. A good journalist also applied the 5w+H when writing his /her story.
A journalist should not inject his/her opinion in a story, a journalist needs to five two sides of the story to make the story balance.
On photograph Sarr said, it is also important for a story to have a photograph as some people it is the photograph that tell them the story.
He added that a photograph is sometimes important to others as they cannot read the whole story but with the photograph it can tell them and he added that at the bottom of the small.
On background information, he said a good journalist find out background information about a story.
Buttressing on responsible journalism Mr. Sarr added that journalist must be objective write truth and be accurate and what you publish must be in public interest. Mr. Ebrima Jatta, a report with Daily observer spoke on Ethic of journalism, Yerro Mballow of the point talked on good writing while Mamadou Edrisa Njie of The Gambia News and Report Magazine talked on responsible journalism, Modou Nyang President Nusrat Press at spoke at length the training was chaired by Musa Fofana information minister of Gambia college and a cross section of students of Gambia college, Nusrat Press club, Mindaw senior secondary school, Brothrog senior secondary school.