Airtel Trains Nigerian Journalists in Digital Media

By Dipo Olowookere

One of the leading telecommunication services providers, Airtel Nigeria, is holding a training for journalists in the country.

This, the firm said, is part of its commitment to deepen the practice of the journalism profession by creating platforms and opportunities that will empower journalists to become more adept and proficient at their jobs.

Speaking at the flag-off of the prestigious Airtel Journalism Clinic, a multi-media training designed to bridge the gap between traditional and digital journalism practice, Vice President/Director, Corporate Communications & CSR, Airtel Nigeria, Mr Emeka Oparah, said Airtel will continue to support interventions that will help journalists drive positive societal change through balanced and robust reporting.

According to Mr Oparah, the Airtel Journalism Clinic is part of the telco’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme to give back to the media – a key stakeholder in the society.

“We strongly believe that the more our journalists are equipped, the better for our society,” said Mr Oparah.

The Airtel Journalism Clinic, which is facilitated by Dan Mason, an internationally-acclaimed digital journalism trainer, will last six days in Lagos, three days in Kaduna and will focus on multimedia storytelling and data journalism.

Also speaking at the flag-off, Mr Taiwo Obe, Founder/Director of The Journalism Clinic commended Airtel for supporting the initiative to empower journalists and bloggers in the country. He charged journalists to make good use of the opportunity to redefine storytelling.

“The world need converged journalist right now as communication landscape continues to change. This is why we appreciate the effort of Airtel Nigeria to sponsor journalists for this exclusive training”, he stated.

On the impact of the training, Dan Mason enjoined all participants to utilise whatever they have learnt to better their performances as professional journalists in terms of content development, digital tool utilization and in delivering news in a smarter way.

Airtel Nigeria in 2015 sponsored 100 journalists in the country for the #ChangeYourStory multimedia storytelling training, which was also organised by The Journalism Clinic and facilitated by Mason.

The training, which kicked off on Monday, August 21 in Lagos, will end on Saturday, August 26, and also holds in Kaduna from Monday, August 28, to Wednesday, August 30, 2017.