Every form of professional journalism practice must place a premium on ethics, professionalism in news gathering and safety. Being a campus journalist or freelancer does not exempt anyone from not following professional standards to the letter, In fact following professional standards distinguishes a journalist from citizen journalists, most of whom had no training of any form.
Africa Foundation for Young Media Professionals(AFYMP) ‘campus journalism fellowship2023” which selected about 30 campus journalists from across Africa university system kicked off with a hybrid training (this include in-person and virtual participants) on July 10-July 11, 2023 at University Of Ibadan conference centre. The fellowship which run for 6 months with the aim of preparing upcoming and next generation of broadcast, print and online journalists for their future of work started with training sessions and to be followed by mentoring, storytelling in different formats among other activities.
Welcoming Participants, Yinka Olaito, Executive Director AFYMP, said ‘Most frontline journalists today across the world started out from when they were in school and with that phase many of them have become outstanding in the profession. There is no greatness without vision, passion, sacrifice and dedication and in most cases no real success is a product of one-night’s stand”.
Yinka Olaito therefore encouraged the participants to take this opportunity seriously so they can shine forth as they make progress in their chosen profession. Lekan Otufodunrin, a media career expert, who facilitated the first session emphasised the fact that technology may be good but it should not turn journalists into lazy professionals. “Not doing the basic minimum of news verification and over-reliance on search engines of what you glean from the internet is a poor way of telling a story” Lekan Otufodunrin said.
“I will always root for technology as it has made journalism profession work easier but not going beyond search engines in writing story calls for a concern” concluded. Bolanle Oduekun on the other hand charged the participants “I understand the plague of scarcity of funds that may hinder your work as campus journalists, but you must face the challenges headlong by making a difference in your reportage. Money is good but should not be determinants of everything you need to do”
“Be the voice of the oppressed in your community and ensure every of your report has a news value that is geared at changing the negative that bedevilled the community,” Bolanle concluded.
Kabir Adejumo, HumAngle Bureau chief challenged the participants to up their skills in the area of multimedia journalism. “In most cases today, no editor will receive with kindness any report that is not produced in several media for news content producers. There is a need to know how to package news items in text, audio, infographics, video and many accessible media that the audience may demand.”.
Kabir said. Living in the plane of I am just a print journalist or broadcaster will not help anyone anymore. “Knowing the how of multimedia journalism is now important. I am also of the opinion journalism is not a poor profession. If you know your onion, there are several ways of making money legitimately today within the industry if you build your skills” Kabir added.
Damilola Fajinmi on the other hand spoke glowingly on how participants must build their personal power and brand. “Personal brand must reflect in your story telling. As a starter, you need to set goals and work on the basic skills like pronunciation, grammar among other salient issues.”
The two-day hybrid event was attended by participants from Lesotho, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania among other
