The Media Academy for Journalism and Communication (MAJaC) in collaboration with Freedom House on Tuesday (today) launched a six-week intensive ethical journalism training for 20 early and mid-career Journalists in the Gambia. The training is meant to equip participants with the needed knowledge and skills to uphold ethical journalism in the country. The six-week training would cover the following themes: Ethics of Truth and Search for Identity, Ethical Thinking and Research, Business/Purpose of Journalism, and Sourcing among others. In his remarks at the launch, James Badjie, Director of Training at MAJaC said his institution collaborates with reputable organizations such as the Freedom House, Gambia Media Support, and UNESCO to build the capacity of journalists and civil society organizations. "As journalists, you hold immense power and responsibility. Your reporting can shape public opinion, influence policy decisions, and ultimately, help maintain trust in our institutions. However, with this power, comes the duty to adhere to ethical principles and professional standards," he said. Demba Kandeh, Deputy Chief of Party at Freedom House, said his institution, through the Promoting Rights and Justice in the Gambia, is committed to providing journalists with the necessary skills to uphold the standards of journalism in the country. “We are delighted to partner with MAJaC for the third time to deliver this important training and hope that this training will offer an opportunity for the new intake to learn from the former cohorts to help them improve in the delivery of the training,” he said in his launch statement. Musa Sarjo, representing the Gambia Press Union, commended Freedom House for its continuous partnership and support to MAJaC and the GPU. He urged the participants to adhere to the ethical principles and guidelines stated in the Cherno Jallow Charter of Ethics for Journalists. MAJaC, with the support of Freedom House and USAID, trained two batches of journalists on ethical journalism. This is the third cohort of journalists who are expected to undergo such training. At the launch, members of the previous cohorts trained in ethical journalism were invited to share their experiences with the new cohort.
The Media Academy for Journalism and Communication- MAJaC, received the Minister for Information, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay on Tuesday, 9th April 2024. The minister's visit was part of his efforts to familiarise himself with key media providers in the country as well as identify institutional challenges that need to be addressed in pursuit of promoting effective communication. Managing Director of MAJaC, Sang Mendy, expressed appreciation for the minister's visit. He highlighted the school's commitment to nurturing and building ethical journalists and communicators in the Gambia. Mendy also shared some of the challenges MAJaC currently faces. The challenges include limited space to train more journalists, among others. He solicited the minister's support and collaboration in transforming MAJaC TV and radio into campus media for students to gain much real-time journalism experience. MD Mendy further solicited scholarship support for students who find it difficult to pay their tuition fees. In response, the Minister for Information, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, acknowledged MAJaC's brand as a household name in the provision of journalism and communication education in the Gambia. While assuring that his doors are always opened, the Honourable he hopes for a fruitful collaboration with MAJaC. Honourable Ceesay expressed the need for proper training of journalists as liaison between the government and the public. He assured to support MAJaC in solving its space and other challenges. The Minister and his entourage first held discussions with the MAJaC management, before being taking on a conducted tour of the various facilities of the host academy. During the visit, the minister and his team were later taken on a tour of MAJaC's facilities. The facilities include the TV and radio studios, classrooms, and computer labs.
The Media Academy for Journalism and Communication - MAJaC, in partnership with Freedom House under the Promoting Rights and Justice in The Gambia program, is pleased to announce the opening of applications for a comprehensive training program focused on ethical reporting for journalists. This six-week training, commencing in April 2024, presents a valuable opportunity for early and mid-career journalists to enhance their understanding of journalistic ethics and professional standards. Applications are open until March 31, 2024, at 3pm. Please submit your applications here: https://forms.gle/mGDTAp4jqnkNe8Mz7
Media Academy for Journalism and Communication (MAJaC) with funding from UNESCO is inviting journalists to participate in a fact-check reporting grant to counter fake news and misleading information. The grant is open and interested journalists can contact 3747123 to receive the pitching form. All fact-check reports will be paid D5000. Explainers, fact-sheet, promised meter etc will be paid D3000. Send your claims to [email protected] and copy to [email protected] and [email protected]
Media Academy for Journalism and Communication -MAJaC with funding from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO Dakar, commenced a 3-day training in Advanced Fact-Checking and verification for 25 Journalists including community radio staff. The training is part of a one-year project that the Academy is implementing which seeks to boost the operational capacity of FactCheck Gambia. Trainees will learn the practical aspect of digital verification of images and videos, accountability journalism among other thematic areas of fact-checking and will further prepare you to participate in the reporting grant that the Academy will roll-out soon. Meita Touray the Project Manager, said fact-checking is a complex area in media work which requires skills to unravel truth from falsehood and misleading information. She said politicians, religious leader and those in authority tend to use the media in their quest to mislead the public. This she added can lead to serious consequences like tension and division in a country. “The role of journalists is crucial in disseminating accurate information to the public. Journalists must expose “fake news” regardless of where it emanates from. This is what MAJaC and UNESCO seek to promote by continually training journalists in fact-checking through projects and reporting grants to keep fact-checking alive in The Gambia,” she said. Ngenarr Yassin Jeng, representative from UNESCO Dakar office, highlighted the numerous works that UNESCO has done in supporting Journalists and Civil society in the Gambia. She reiterated UNESCO’s unwavering support to promoting Democracy and Good Governance in the Gambia. James Badjie MAJaC's Director of Training reiterated the importance of reporting accurate and reliable information, citing that misinformation/disinformation and even mal-information proliferates with disturbing speed, making the pursuit of truth morally imperative. Sainey Fofana, a participant, working for Soma Community Radio, said the training will help in his daily work as community radio journalist. “The training will help to detect and counter fake news by verifying information using the tools I will learn from this training. “Community Media plays an important role in information dissemination and I am excited to be part of this training. I will use the knowledge gained to verify and report accurately on stories of interest to my community.” After this training, participants and other journalists would participate in fact-check reporting grant to enable them report fact-check stories.
Media Academy for Journalism and Communication -MAJaC with funding from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO Dakar, commenced a 3-day training in Advanced Fact-Checking and verification for 25 Journalists including community radio staff. The training is part of a one-year project that the Academy is implementing which seeks to boost the operational capacity of FactCheck Gambia. Trainees will learn the practical aspect of digital verification of images and videos, accountability journalism among other thematic areas of fact-checking and will further prepare you to participate in the reporting grant that the Academy will roll-out soon. Meita Touray the Project Manager, said fact-checking is a complex area in media work which requires skills to unravel truth from falsehood and misleading information. She said politicians, religious leader and those in authority tend to use the media in their quest to mislead the public. This she added can lead to serious consequences like tension and division in a country. “The role of journalists is crucial in disseminating accurate information to the public. Journalists must expose “fake news” regardless of where it emanates from. This is what MAJaC and UNESCO seek to promote by continually training journalists in fact-checking through projects and reporting grants to keep fact-checking alive in The Gambia,” she said. Ngenarr Yassin Jeng, represented UNESCO Dakar office highlighted the numerous works that UNESCO has done in supporting Journalists and Civil society in the Gambia. She reiterated UNESCO’s unwavering support to promoting Democracy and Good Governance in the Gambia. James Badjie MAJaC's Director of Training reiterated the importance of reporting accurate and reliable information, citing that misinformation/disinformation and even mal-information proliferates with disturbing speed, making the pursuit of truth morally imperative. Sainey Fofana, a participant, working for Soma Community Radio, said the training will help in his daily work as community radio journalist. “The training will help to detect and counter fake news by verifying information using the tools I will learn from this training. “Community Media plays an important role in information dissemination and I am excited to be part of this training. I will use the knowledge gained to verify and report accurately on stories of interest to my community.” After this training, participants and other journalists would participate in fact-check reporting grant to enable them report fact-check stories.
MAJaC held an orientation for Civil Society Organisations members as part of the US Embassy Banjul funded project “Strengthening the Media and CSOs for improved democracy”. The training which will run for 3-months, aims to strengthen the capacity of 20 CSO members in proactive advocacy using digital media tools and social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok, instead of staying rooted to the conventional means of reaching their target audiences. Sang Mendy, the Managing Director of MAJaC, emphasized the importance of CSOs using innovative approaches to promote transparency, good governance, and citizen engagement. “The CSOs are central in helping citizens to be interested in politics; how they are governed. With the right advocacy, outreach and sensitization by the CSO using various forms of media, citizens will begin to demand for their rights, insist on transparency and good governance and or hold the Government accountable for actions and inaction”, Mendy added. MAJaC is committed to building a network of empowered CSOs and media professionals with the aim of creating a lasting impact on democratic processes and promoting a culture of good governance and accountability.
The Media Academy for Journalism and Communication -MAJaC and The Gambia Media Support -GAMES today Launch ‘Unlock Potentials to Combat Irregular Migration (UPCIM)’ project. Sang Mendy, MAJaC Managing Director and UPCIM Project Manager, said the project seeks to address the root causes of irregular migration- unemployment, underemployment and hopelessness. It aims to help Gambian youth acquire media-related skills for employment and employment creation to combat irregular migration. “… MAJaC will in this project work with a group of CSOs through a coalition representing youth, migrant returnees, women, families, and more to developing adequate responses to combat irregular migration,” he said. “To do that MAJaC will build the capacity of 16 CSO staff with solid theoretical and practical communication and advocacy skills to conduct massive, proactive and innovative anti-irregular migration sensitisation.” Marianne Frederiksen, GAMES Project Manager, delved into MAJaC-GAMES partnership which now surpassed two decades. “The ambition is high, but after being partnering with MAJaC and the Gambian press Union for many years, we know that the organisations here is able to create the results,” she stated. Frederiksen is hopeful that the project would be able to make a little change in the life of some young migrants and build the capacity of MAJAC to be even more successful as a relevant training academy. Modou S. Joof, Secretary General, Gambia Press Union (GPU), said the Gambia Press Union (GPU) is pleased to be associated with this project, implemented by the Media Academy for Journalist and Communication and the Denmark-based Gambia Media Support (GAMES) to 'Unlock Potentials to Combat Irregular Migration (UPCIM)'. “This is an important project meant to address the challenges of migration that the Gambia is faced with, especially issues of irregular migration,” he said. “It is in line with the GPU’s efforts of building the capacity of media workers to effectively tackle the problems associated with irregular migration and the root causes by raising awareness on the subject.” Forty-eight (48) Gambian youths would receive an intensive nine-month training in Film & Photography, Communication and Digital Media Production & Management. This will equip them with the necessary skills to start-up their own business or grab gainful employment. For a successful implementation of this project, on top of its flagship journalism programme, the academy would develop a curriculum in Film & Photography, Communication and Digital Media Production & Management. MAJaC will host and coordinate a CSO Coalition to help raise awareness on opportunities often overlooked in The Gambia.
