Journalists urged to specialise in reporting

Media practitioners have been encouraged to specialise in their reporting to minimise errors and blame.

The President of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan, Patrick Oyet, said the majority of media practitioners were taught many things based on the course units that made them tend to report on anything and everything, which sometimes weakens their reportage.

“We encourage specialisation in addition to what you know. We need to improve our journalism, especially in ethics and human rights, ” Oyet said during the media training on ethical and human rights reporting.

“Our mandate as the Union of Journalists is to protect the journalists, and sometimes it’s very difficult to help somebody who is not a professional in the field,” he added.

Capacity building

On his part, United Nations Mission in South Sudan Human Rights Division Officer, Denis Chenwi, said the organisation has a continuity plan to reach and build the capacity of journalists, especially in crime reporting and other forms of human rights violation.

 “Freedom of expression is necessary up to the level of the state, including fundamental rights. We want to give more tools to journalists so that they can be able to express their opinions and views freely, ” he said.

However, the Director-General of the Media Authority, Spana Abuyi, stated that there is a need to build the capacity of journalists so that they can report correctly, particularly in sensitive areas.

“Human rights reporting is always where there is a misconception because when some people hear about human rights, what comes to their mind is security, and human rights is a cross-cutting that includes the rights of the communities,” he said.   

“Human rights violations and freedom of expression require ethical and legal protection to protect the safety of journalists,” Abuyi stressed.

However, practising journalism in South Sudan remains a challenge due to the restrictions on freedom of expression.