A two-day media training in basic Finance and Economics has been held in the Western regional capital, Takoradi for selected media practitioners.
The workshop is one of the face-to-face sessions of a 21-day virtual training programme in Finance and Economics, christened Finance and Economic Clinic for journalists.
It is being organized by El de D Consult, a marketing communication and media training firm and supported by the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Accra.
The virtual training begun in November last year for some 30 journalists from the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western and Volta regions. The participants have been taken through various topics including basics in Macroeconomics, Financial Markets, the Economic History of Ghana, the Originating and Execution of Government Debt Transactions, Impact of COVID-19 on Economies among others.
The session in Takoradi was for the participants in the Western region, having held a similar one in Ho for participants in the Volta region.
The Chief Executive of El de D Consult, Fred Avornyo explained that the in-person session was to afford the organisers the opportunity to have face-to-face encounters with the participants and to treat topics that are difficult to teach and learn virtually. He added that the face-to-face sessions is also being used to expose the participating journalists to the economies of their respective regions.
Participants in Takoradi were taken through data journalism and how to use figures in news reporting. There was also a presentation on the economy of the Western region made by the Regional Economic Planning Officer Mr. Gabriel Nfodzo. Mr. Nfodzo walked the participants through the profile of the Western regional economy, the economic activities, the investment potentials as well as the challenges. He urged the journalists to show interest in the regional economy and use their news reportage to expose the region to the rest of the world.
One of the resource persons, Kwame Anani-Korba called on journalists to familiarize themselves with data journalism because “data abounds and holds a lot of juicy stories”. He explained that what journalists need to do, is to find, access them and know how to present them to their audience.
