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Other articles in the RAP 21 Newsletter n° 3/2004:
NEWS FROM THE MEDIA SCENE
Tunisia’s Press Freedom Record Casts Shadow over World Summit, says Nigerian Journalist
Egyptian Journalists Eligible to Participate in Exchange Programme
PRESS FREEDOM
Alerts from the Continent
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
12 Spots Open for Gambian Journalists in Writing International News
Free Biotech Conference for Southern and Eastern African Journalists
Teaching Skills course Offered in Angola for Media Trainers
AWARDS OPPORTUNITIES
2,000 Cash Reward at Commonwealth Photographic Awards 2004
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Job Opportunity: Communications Officer for Women’s Development Network in Kenya
Commonwealth Journalists Encouraged to Apply for Harry Brittain Fellowship
Newsletter n° 3

30.01.04
THE BUSINESS OF NEWSPAPERS CONTENT & ETHICS

Ghana: Techniques to Jump-Start Human Rights Reporting

Ghanaian journalists are set to receive a boost in their techniques for reporting on human rights issues. From 9 to 13 February, a training conference that combines the discussion of topical human rights issues with intense workshops will be held in an effort to equip the Ghanaian media with the practical tools for reporting on sensitive issues such as domestic violence, gay rights, and abortion.

RAP 21 spoke to Ben Peterson, executive director of Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), about the initiative and what it hopes to bring to Ghanaian journalists.

RAP 21: What do you hope to achieve with the conference?

Ben Peterson: By and large, Ghanaian journalists are interested in human rights but don’t have enough knowledge to report accurately on human rights topics. Our conference will try to change that by giving them a solid understanding of human rights and also how to report on human rights. With this, we expect to see an increase in the quality and quantity of human rights reporting in the Ghanaian media.

RAP 21: What techniques will you employ to provide training on human rights reporting?

Ben Peterson: Our technique is a two-stage process. Each human rights topic will be introduced by local Ghanaian human rights experts and activists.Participating journalists will then be trained by Tim Knight, a veteran journalist with over three decades of experience and former head of journalism training at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, on how to incorporate this new knowledge into their day-to-day reporting.

RAP 21: How do you plan on carrying out the media training sessions?

Ben Peterson: Although the exact format has yet to be finalised, we plan to use a variety of techniques to lead the training workshops, including breaking down the workshops into different discussion groups. These groups will each write a human rights related story - for example on environmental rights related to mining. The trainer will then work with each group on ways to improve its focus and coverage on the right related to the story.

Another technique would be to present the working groups with a story that appeared that day in the paper, and discussing ways to bring out the human rights element to the story.

RAP 21: Are there any specific problems you want to address through this conference?

Ben Peterson: The specific human rights topics we will be focusing on include: environmental rights surrounding mining; domestic rape and violence, (there is a new bill in Ghana banning marital rape); the right to information (again, a new bill is being introduced on the subject); gay rights; abortion rights.

RAP 21: Why have you chosen Ghana as one of your bases for offering media training in reporting on human rights issues?

Ben Peterson: Ghana is, in many ways, an ideal country for media training on human rights. They have a press that is, by-and-large, free of government interference.They have a media that is curious about human rights, but is uneducatedon the topic. And lastly, Ghana has many human rights concerns.It boils down to the fact that Ghana’smedia is interested and able to report on human rights topics, but needs the training to do so.

The five-day training conference, which takes place in Accra, will include prominent Ghanaian lawyers, professors, activists and government officials as speakers. The conference is open to all Ghanaian journalists, both full-time and freelance, and is free of charge.

For further information, contact coordinator Alexandra Levesque by telephone (+2-33) 612-980 or by e-mail: alexandra.levesque@jhr.ca Visit the JHR web site at: http://www.jhr.ca
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