Institute for War & Peace Reporting (London)
30 October 2009
The Hague — IWPR senior reporter, Simon Jennings, travelled to Gulu in northern Uganda along with IWPR's Uganda programme coordinator, Wairagala Wakabi, to train a group of broadcast journalists on how to report on justice and human rights issues.
A two-day training covering journalism practice and radio production was held for local journalists on September 17/18 ahead of the launch of IWPR's Facing Justice radio show in northern Uganda.
"This was a well focused training which taught me a lot about how to address human rights issues," Pascal Orwoth of Radio Pacis in Arua said after the training. "And [it taught me] not simply to gather information...but to go beyond that and dig out the truth."
Other participants praised the in-depth discussion focused on generating content for the upcoming radio programme.
"I liked the debate of story ideas among participants and how the expectations of the reporters working on the IWPR radio project was demonstrated," Ekotu Richard from the radio station, Voice of Teso, in Soroti said.
Eight broadcast journalists from seven radio stations across Uganda were selected to take part in the training. The participants will contribute feature stories for the new radio programme, Facing Justice, which is to be broadcast by four radio stations in northern Uganda.
The training equipped journalists with key journalistic skills for reporting on human rights and justice issues. They were trained in conducting radio interviews, using the digital recording equipment, and editing broadcast material with digital software.
IWPR has formed a partnership with four radio stations in northern Uganda to air its new show. Mega FM, Radio Rhino, Voice of Ateso and Radio Pacis will broadcast the programme which is produced in English before being translated into three other languages - Luo, Ateso and Lugbara - for its audience in northern Uganda:.
The training also benefited from the experience of Moses Odokonyero of the Northern Uganda Media Club who delivered a talk about reporting on local human rights issues. Based in Gulu, Odokonyero has since joined the radio project team in Uganda.
The project has identified young, enthusiastic talent and individuals have already started contributing to IWPR's upcoming radio coverage of the post conflict situation in northern Uganda. The first programmes will be aired in the coming weeks and are set to cover issues of land rights, law and order and extremely vulnerable individuals trying to return home from camps for the internally displaced.
The radio stations in northern Uganda have told IWPR that they are eager to broadcast Facing Justice because they expect it to play a crucial role in providing their audiences with badly-needed information on subjects related to the post-conflict landscape in northern Uganda.
According to local studies, up to 90 per cent of the population of northern Uganda listens to radio every day, and about the same percentage cites radio as the most important source of information about what is happening in their community.
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