Peace journalists in Bamenda aquaint themselves with skills on humanitarian reporting and security/safety of journalists
"The security of every journalist should come first for you cannot be a reporter in the grave".
This statement was made by Fonyuy Kiven Frankline, the information officer at the United Nations for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, on December 27 2019 at Ntamulung church center hall as he trained peace journalists in Bamenda on humanitarian reporting and Security/safety of journalists. Organized by the Cameroon community media Network CCMN Northwest chapter, mr Funyuy Kiven trained the journalists present, on the importance of always taking into consideration, your safety and security, before embarking on any mission. He mentioned for example that "in a crisis zone as the North west region, a journalist should not be part of a military convoy".
He equally called on female journalists to prevent sexual violence on the field by putting on thicker clothes and equally knowing the customs of the society where you find yourself in order to avoid violence and aggression. It should be noted that more than 1000 journalists in the world have been killed and locked up especially in crisis zones thus making the security of journalists very compromised. Also during the workshop, Mr Kiven called on the journalists present to be humanitarians especially when reporting a crisis. He mentioned that "there exists 3 principles in humanitarian reporting the principle of humanity, neutrality and impartiality ". He also stated that in humanitarian reporting, journalists should be conscious about the persons in need, the community and how the report will bring peace and development to the area.
The Coordinator of the CCMN Northwest who also doubles as the National Coordinator of CCMN Cameroon, Mme Akah Rose Obah, called on all peace journalists present to implement every knowledge gained back on the field in a bit to bring peace and tranquillity to the restive North West and South West regions.
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