Monrovia — A pro-media development initiative, Youth Media Action (YMA) has successfully trained over 200 students in basic journalism for campus-based reporting.
The training which was part of the organization's decentralization program highlighted basic journalism including, interview techniques, news gathering, news writing and presentation and photojournalism.
Other topics include mobile journalism, using photo for storytelling, ethics of journalism, the freedom of information act and identifying and countering fake news amongst others.
The trainings which were conducted in five counties namely Grand Kru, Margibi, Grand Bassa, Bong and Montserrado brought together students from fifteen high, junior and elementary schools in those counties.
Some of the schools that benefited from the trainings include, Barclayville Central High, St. Peter Claver Catholic School and Jireh Foundation from Grand Kru while William V.S Tubman Gray School, Doloken Gboveh High School and St. Peters Episcopal High school from Bong and Buchanan Open Bible Standard School, Bassa Hiigh School system and Bassa Seventh Day Adventist represented Grand Bassa County.
Others include Kings and Queens International School, Kingdom of Hope School system and William V.S Tubman High School from Montserrado County and Albert Osborn Salvation Army High School, Frances Mitchell Memorial Academy and E.J Yancy Public School represented Margibi County.
The Executive Director of Youth Media Action, Varmah Kamara said the ongoing project is part of Interviews Liberia media development activity with funding from USAID.
Mr. Kamara said the first phase of the project targeted five of Liberia's fifteen counties while the next phase will include additional five counties in the coming months.
According to him, high school journalism is the foundation of professional journalism in Liberia with majority of those in mainstream coming from high school press clubs which makes it prudent to develop the next generation.
"It's an open secret that the Liberian media is seriously challenged and to address some of these critical challenges, we must invest in grassroots media development programs for professional Journalism," Kamara argued.
The Youth Media Action Executive Director believes that the ongoing program will address some of the major challenges in the media ranging from attrition, brain drained, capacity gap and underrepresentation of females in the sector.
Mr. Kamara noted that until some of those challenges can be resolved, the Liberian media will continue to lose credibility and trust from majority of the citizenry.
"We are going nowhere if young people who are taking on the profession especially through the new media (social media) do not understand the ethics and basic fundamentals of Journalism," he asserted.
He believes that with the support from Internews Liberia, Youth media action will continue to provide the space and opportunity where young people can learn and empower themselves to become professionals.
He was speaking recently when his organization concluded the rounds of trainings in the five targeted counties and provided gadgets including camcorder and smartphones to enhance the students' campus based reporting.
Also speaking, the Program Officer of Youth Media Action, Abraham Boimah said the materials provided are intended to ensure that the students practice what they have learnt.
Mr. Boimah noted that for too long the students have been complaining of the basic materials to report news from their campuses which the items will address.
He added that already a facebook page has been created for each of the 15 schools and the smart phones will be used to publish stories on their pages while the camcorder will help with photos for publication in 'Youth Focus,' a quarterly newsletter featuring high school news stories.
YMA program officer added that his organization is also working with the state radio, ELBC, LNTV and community radio stations where students can air their news and other campus related activities.
"The trainings are very important but in the absence of the basic gadgets to practice, the knowledge will go in vein; so we are giving them all the support needed for a grounded foundation in journalism at this very young stage before they filter into mainstream," he concluded.
Speaking on behalf of the students, 16 years old Fredrick Kumeh of Jireh Solid Foundation School in Grand Kru and 17 years old Sayo Seasay of Albert Osborn Salvation Army High School in Margibi County, thanked Youth Media Action and partners for such a unique opportunity.
"Ever since I had the dream of becoming a journalist but we didn't have a press club at our school. Now that youth media action has establish one and given us smartphone and camcorder, I am happy and hope to become one of the best in Liberia and the world at large," student Kumeh explained.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"before the training, I wanted to be a doctor but with the things I have learned here, I want to now become a journalist to help my community by giving credible news and information," student Seasay emphasized.
Established in 2016, Youth Media Action (YMA) is Liberia's leading grassroots media development initiative which provides training and broadcasting experience to high school students in five of Liberia's 15 counties.
In the context of a challenging and under-resourced media landscape, YMA seeks to act as a force to professionalize Liberia's media sector by providing young people with a firm practical grounding in journalism through training opportunities and media exposure.
One of our core aims is to inspire media reforms to enable professional journalism to support a vibrant democracy. YMA places a special focus on mentoring aspiring young female journalists who are currently underrepresented in the Liberian media.
