South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The transitional government of national unity and the state government have been urged to initiate training for journalists in Eastern Equatoria state to enhance professionalism in reporting across the country.
Kabaka Quintos, the lead facilitator of the symposium on countering hate speech, propaganda, and misinformation held on Friday in Torit, Eastern Equatoria state, highlighted the necessity for the government to provide additional training to improve journalists’ skills in reporting.
“The government should offer scholarships to journalists to further their studies, which will ultimately benefit the state in the long run,” said Quintos during the ceremony in Torit, following a two-day training session on conflict-sensitive reporting aimed at countering hate speech, propaganda, and disinformation.
Quintos also stated that the government should establish a telecommunication network to enable wider coverage for journalists and engage partners to provide training on trauma healing.
“The government needs to lobby partners to sponsor exposure visits and training abroad for greater experience,” he added.
Additionally, he emphasised the need for collaboration between the government and organisations such as the Support Peace Initiative Development Organisation (SPIDO) to train journalists in peace promotion programmes.
Quintos noted that media houses require support in terms of providing equipment such as recorders, cameras, computers, and phones.
“The Ministry of Information should engage other government officials to cooperate with local media that serve indigenous populations, and journalists must adhere to ethical standards in their reporting,” he urged.
Quintos suggested that the Ministry of Information, in collaboration with UJOSS and SPIDO, should organise workshops focused on building confidence and trust between journalists and security agencies.
“The government and its partners should shift their approach to capacity building from workshops to long-term training to aid in archiving information for the state.”
The journalists’ competition, which awarded winners with cash prizes and gold medals, was organised by the Support Peace Initiative Development Organisation in collaboration with the communications department of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the Whitaker Peace Development Initiative, funded by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) through the United Nations Development Programme.
