We are much touched by the renewed interest directed at improving quality reporting on science, technology and innovation (STI) in the sub-region by ECOWAS.
At
a three-day training course for West African journalists held recently in
Nigeria, to improve quality reporting on
science, technology and innovation in the sub-region, the relevance of the
media was highly showcased, as it plays a critical role in publicizing and
promoting scientific innovations, which is why western countries are developing
rapidly.
In
Africa, science reporting or journalism is not given much support or training,
which reflects negatively on the growth and improvement of scientific
innovations on the continent.
There
are a lot of scientific innovations lying in laboratories, because the scientists
find it difficult to communicate to the media, and the media in turn finds it
difficult to fully explain these innovations to the citizens,” African Union
senior scientific officer Dr Kyari
Mohammed has said.
This
concern raised by the AU senior scientific officer is indeed realistic, to a
large extent, but it is mainly because journalists are not given adequate
training and other support to arm themselves with the knowledge and skills of
reporting fruitfully scientific innovations by scientists on the African
continent.
Strong
emphasis on efforts to improve the quality of journalistic reporting on
science, technology and innovation is, therefore, crucial in this circumstance.
Although
the African Association of Science and Technology Journalists has been
established, African journalists, especially those in West Africa, are not
really adequately trained on reporting STI.
We
must, therefore, focus on and give strong support to improving the professional
capacity of journalists on STI.
African
countries need to improve, and science plays a crucial role in that development
process, hence much support is needed to realise this objective.
ECOWAS
has, therefore, taken a sound step to train West African journalists to be able
to produce quality reports on science, technology and innovation in the
sub-region.
This
should be maintained and sustained in trying to achieve a prosperous Africa.
“Practice
is the hardest part of learning, and training is the essence of
transformation.”
Ann
Voskamp
