PHOTO: Workshop Facilitators
Minneapolis, MINNESOTA, USA- The Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA) will hold a one-day capacity building workshop for members of the Female Journalists Association of Liberia (FEJAL) aimed at strengthening the capacity of female journalists in the country.
In a Press Release issued on Monday, the 20th of December 2021, the Association says the training will be conducted mainly by US-based Journalists of Liberian descent and will mark ALJA’s first direct training engagement with FEJAL.
According to the release, the principal facilitator of the workshop is Ms. Emma Sapong, an award-winning multimedia media journalist with over 20 years of experience. Ms. Sapong, who is a member of ALJA’s Human Resource and Development Committee, has worked at the Sandusky Register in Ohio, the Buffalo News in New York, and the Minnesota Public Radio.
The ALJA release named Mr. Ismail Turay from the Cox Media Group in Fairborn, Ohio, as another presenter. Ismail is a driven and skillful multimedia journalist with a focus on new editing and digital media. Mr. Turay, who is a news veteran of over two decades, is the current News Editor of the Springfield News-Sun in Ohio.
ALJA President Joe Mason
The Association says Ms. Sapong and Mr. Turay will be joined in the training by Charity Nebbe, host of “Talk of Iowa”, a daily public affairs program from Iowa Public Radio. Ms. Nebbe, who also spent ten years as a host and producer at Michigan Radio in Ann Arbor, provides voice coaching, performance, and consulting services for broadcasters around the United States.
The Association’s release also named Veteran Liberian Journalist, Hassan Kiawu, the former North American correspondent at the BBC World Service for Africa as the local facilitator of the workshop.
ALJA says the training, which will bring together about 50 female journalists, including many from the different counties around the country, will be held at the I-Center on Carey Street and run from 12 noon to 4 pm. The training will focus broadly on current thinking about news gathering and presentation.
Meanwhile, the President of the Association, Mr. Joe Mason, says the partnership with FEJAL to help strengthen the capacity of female Journalists in the country represents ALJA’s commitment to improving the media landscape by providing targeted training and logistical support to Journalists in the Country. The ALJA President pledged the organization’s commitment to working with the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) and other relevant media stakeholders in the country in this drive.
Mr. Mason thanked ALJA’s Human Resource Development Committee, headed by the Association’s Vice President, Dr. Samuel Wai Johnson, Jr. for coordinating the workshop with FEJAL’s President Siatta Scott Johnson. He also thanked ALJA members for their financial support towards this endeavor. The exercise will be funded by ALJA’s media development fund.