MEDEC

MEDEC champions environmental journalism

The Media Development Centre (MEDEC), a Non-Governmental Organisation has in collaboration with the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), launched a media capacity training programme christened ''Journalism Clinic'' for young media practitioners and trainees to develop interest in Environmental Journalism and effectively report on it.

The Clinic which would be organised thrice annually throughout the country, to sharpen the skills of Journalists to report more on environmental issues and varied areas of environment that were often under reported.   

Launching it in Accra, Mr. Richard Ellimah, Executive Director of the Centre for Social Impact Studies (CeSIS), said it was important for the media to focus their  attention more on other developmental areas including the environment, instead of concentrating on politics and sports to the neglect of other sectors.

He stated that the poor sanitation in the country was a reflection of a weak local government structure to tackle the challenge, which, he added, might make Ghana miss the Millennium Development Goal on reducing maternal mortality, environmental sustainability and access to water and sanitation.

Mr. Ellimah lamented that  most of our Journalists lacked the requisite academic background to comprehensively report on specialized fields including environment, health, natural resource extraction, finance and economic reporting and commended MEDEC for taking the initiative to build capacity for Journalists.

Welcoming the guest, Mr. Okunyin Boaz Orlan-Hackman, Executive Director of MEDEC, said the Organisation would help Journalists to specialise in the various fields.

He noted that the Clinic would assist Journalism Training Schools to adequately prepare students to focus more on developmental issues.

Mr. Fredrick Asiamah, Director of Communications and Partnerships of MEDEC, explained that his outfit would employ various media tools to promote grassroots development.

He said MEDEC intended to use workshop and field tours in its training and establish a database for Environmental Journalists in the country.

Dr. Messan Mawugbe, Managing Consultant, Centre for Media Analysis, challenged Journalists to be innovative and change the trend of Journalism in the country, by giving in-depth reporting on environment instead of depending on press releases.

He urged them to use simple language in their reportage to effectively communicate to their audience.

At the launch were some staff of Journalism Training Schools in Accra, and Journalists.

Speakers including Mr. Augustine Niber, Director of the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), Mr. Samuel Obri of the Centre for Scientific Research Institute and Mrs. Hannah Owusu Koranteng, Associate Executive of Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) as well as Mrs. Ama Kudom-Agyemang, Communication Consultant.

Among some topics discussed were Status of Environment and Resource Reporting;  Resource Extraction and Health: Pollution Factor; Human and Social Factors of Resource Extraction; Connecting Law and Environment and Importance of Environmental Reporting.