Conducive Environment a Global Concern

As Environmental Journalists Train

"We would all agree that the Environment has become a global and indeed a national concern because of its impacts and risks."

This remark was made by Sheikh Alkinky Sanyang, Co-ordinator of Africa Network of Environmental Journalists-Gambia (ANEJ-Gambia) and Assistant Programme Officer at the NEA, at a three day training for Gambian environmental journalists.

The programme was held yesterday at the Gambia Press Union along

Mr. Sanyang maintained that to make the planet Earth conducive place for even generations not yet born, there is a great need for a holistic approach in the protection, preservation and conservation of the environment.

"In light of this, this training for environmental journalists is both timely and important, for the fact that, environmental reporting needs lots of research and, studies and capacity building that will help carry relevant and timely information on the environment to the door step of the populace.

"Knowledge is power, information is liberating, and education is premise of progress in any family or society. Thus this underscores the immense importance of information in society in order to tackle the challenges and problem easier,"claimed Sheikh Alkinky Sanyang.

The acquisition of knowledge and skills is indeed an important prerequisite for every sector of our national development especially when it is geared towards building capacities of professional capabilities. 

Madi Ceesay, Director of Media Agenda, said that training journalists in The Gambia is something very valued.

"Training for us Gambian journalists is a thing we really value," he said. He added that this is one area that has not been navigated well.

"We the Gambia is one of the few countries in the sub-region without a training institution. Most journalists who are today doing this job only have their training on the job, thanks to the experienced ones among us," he stated.

He maintained that the lack of a formal school for the training of journalists has largely affected journalists, noting that this had made some people who are not in the profession somehow look low on Gambian journalists. He added that most of the journalists are high school graduates who go straight into newsrooms and start pushing the pen.