Journalists Extol Airtel For Multimedia Training Workshop

Journalists and bloggers that participated in the recently held Airtel Journalism Clinic have extoled the effort of the telecom giant for enhancing their skills and knowledge in multimedia and data reporting.

The journalism training dubbed #AirtelChangeYourStory had over 100 participants in Lagos and Kaduna.

One of the participants, Hannah Ojo, an online reporter of The Nation Newspaper, described the workshop as an enriching experience that comes timely for media practitioners. “The training was an enriching experience. I cannot thank Airtel enough for creating this platform to empower media practitioners”, she said.

“The new media has taken the world by storm. This training offered me the opportunity to tell people's stories better with multimedia tools. Being able to learn from a renowned digital journalism trainer like Dan Mason is a priceless experience for me. I love the fact that Airtel Nigeria brought us together to upskill us and I hope other brand owners can emulate Airtel”, said Felix Oloyede of Hallmark Newspaper.

Another participant, Lawani Tolulope, commended Airtel Nigeria for the laudable initiative. He said the training had broaden his knowledge on the various aspects of digital journalism, exposed him to tools that will improve his job performance and skills.

Olushola Bello of Leadership Newspaper also thanked the telco for throwing its weight behind the hand-on training.

Speaking at the flag-off of the multimedia training, Vice President/Director, Corporate Communications & CSR, Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Oparah, said Airtel will continue to support interventions that will help journalists drive positive societal change through balanced and robust reporting.

According to 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 Oparah.

Taiwo Obe, Founder/Director of The Journalism Clinic also 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 needs converged journalists right now as communication landscape is dynamic. 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, internationally-acclaimed digital journalism trainer, 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 was held in Lagos from Monday, 21st August – Saturday, 26th August and Monday, 28th August – Wednesday, 30th August, 2017 in Kaduna.