Training government journalists – being fair, accurate and balanced

frayintermedia’s Michael Schmidt conducted a two-day workshop on “Online to print” for government journalists on February 4 and 5.

GCIS, the Government Communication Information System, approached frayintermedia to provide training to a group of their journalists who work for BuaNews, the Government news agency. These journalists work mostly online, but needed to acquire skills in writing for print. The course included understanding the media landscape in South Africa, understanding the reasons for tensions that have developed between the government and the media, and the legal environment journalists operate in.

During the workshop some basic journalism skills were refined. The GCIS journalists’ brief is to report on what Government does, but that needs to be done in a fair, balanced and accurate manner conforming to journalistic standards – even when covering controversial stories touching on the personal lives of Government figures.