CSAT equips journalists with parliamentary proceedings’ reporting skills
By Brighton Tchongwe
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (CSAT) drilled about 30 journalists on implementing access to information laws and reporting parliamentary proceedings.
According to CSAT the aim is to empower citizens to hold duty bearers accountable and promote transparency in the country’s governance.
Speaking during a media engagement workshop on access to information (ATI) under a parliamentary support program in Lilongwe, CSAT’s Citizen Engagement Manager, Moffat Phiri, emphasized the crucial role journalists play in ensuring that parliamentary proceedings are accessible to the general public.
Phiri said this enables citizens to exercise their rights in holding duty bearers accountable.
Phiri highlighted that the training workshop will assist journalists in advocating for the role of information officers to effectively carry out their responsibilities within their respective institutions.
“We saw the gap mainly in journalists both from mainstream media houses as well as community media houses that covering parliamentary proceedings has been a problem so that being second session in Lilongwe as well as the one that has been carry out in Blantyre and Mzuzu,” said Phiri.
By providing training sessions, CSAT aims to equip journalists with the skills needed to cover parliamentary sessions effectively, ultimately improving their capacities in this area,” he added.
A participant, Patrick Njawala, a reporter from Mibawa TV, expressed gratitude to CSAT for organizing the training, describing it as an enlightening experience for all journalists in fulfilling their role of informing the public.
“This training has heightened my knowledge on how I can best report parliamentary activities in government affairs. Now I will be able to cover such proceedings to best serve the public,” says Njawala.
