The 57th training session for young African Journalists has kicked off in Cairo, Egypt, with a call for professionalism and data reporting among journalists on the continent.
The president of the Union of African Journalists, UAJ, Mahfouz Elensary, who declared the 57th training session open on Sunday at the National Radio and Television house of Egypt called on young journalists to be vanguards of national unity while holding government accountable.
The event, which attended by the Secretary General of the Union of African Journalists, Dr Samia Abass, the first Vice President of the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, Saleh El Sally served as an avenue for journalists from different countries to converge in Cairo and discuss key issues in journalism practice.
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The Secretary General of the Union of African Journalists, Dr Samia Abbas, noted that “The training was established in 1974 with the collaboration of other African Unions and next year it will be celebrating 50years of existence”
“The union has trained about 2,000 journalists from Africa” Dr Samia noted, adding that it holds two sessions annually with 25 journalists from Africa and 5 from Egypt.
“I regret the fact that due to economic crisis the number of countries have been reduced to 15” she lamented, but however she hopes that the situation will get better so that they can continue training the original number of journalists they started with.
“For the 57th training session, the programme will be divided into three; the first being political and economic issues, the second part will X-ray media issues and the third will consist of visiting touristic sites so that the participants can get to know Egypt better.”
Participating countries in this year’s edition of the training include; Nigeria, Togo, Senegal, Congo, Kenya, Tunisia, Morroco, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Egypt and Cameroon
