Journalists have been urged to take greater responsibility for their professional development and actively pursue opportunities to strengthen their reporting skills, particularly in areas such as gender equality and inclusive reporting.
This call was made by Mbongeni Mbingo during the closing of a two-day Media Practitioners’ Workshop on Gender Equality and Inclusive Reporting, held from March 4 to 5 at Sibane Sami Hotel. The workshop was hosted by the European Union in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the office of the deputy prime minister, and TDR Consulting.
The workshop trained media practitioners on gender-sensitive and inclusive reporting, with participants engaging in discussions and practical exercises on responsible coverage of gender-based violence, the use of appropriate language in news reporting, and the importance of amplifying diverse voices in the media.
Addressing participants, Mbingo emphasised that while training opportunities were valuable, journalists should not wait for institutions or organisations to arrange such initiatives before improving their skills. He said training was crucial in the media profession, but stressed that it had to be driven by journalists themselves. Mbingo encouraged participants to use the knowledge gained during the workshop to continue sharpening their skills, noting that the media landscape still had significant gaps that required better reporting.
According to Mbingo, attending a training session and receiving a certificate was not enough. What mattered most was how journalists applied the knowledge gained and whether they continued to seek further opportunities to enhance their capacity.
He also urged journalists to be more assertive in their work and take ownership of the stories they believed needed to be told. Mbingo observed that reporters often blamed editors when certain stories were not published, yet journalists themselves had a responsibility to push for the stories they believed were important.
He noted that journalism had never been an easy profession, but said it was sustained by passion and persistence. He encouraged reporters to write and file their stories and, if necessary, find ways to ensure that those stories reached audiences.
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Mbingo further highlighted the value of residential training programmes, saying they created an environment that enabled deeper learning and engagement among participants. However, he stressed that a single training session was not sufficient to bring about meaningful change. Instead, he advocated for follow-up engagements that would allow journalists to measure progress over time. Mbingo suggested that such follow-ups could help track how journalists applied the skills acquired during training, including evaluating the types of stories being published six months after the workshop and identifying areas that still required improvement.
He said sustained training would help strengthen newsrooms by ensuring that journalists were well equipped and confident in their roles.
Mbingo also emphasised that the strength of an editor ultimately depended on the strength of the team behind them. He said editors were defined by the journalists they worked with, noting that an editor could not be considered effective if their newsroom team was not producing impactful stories.
For this reason, he encouraged journalists to take the initiative to introduce the concepts and practices they had learned during the workshop into their respective newsrooms. Mbingo said journalists should push boundaries within their organisations to improve media reporting, particularly when covering sensitive issues such as gender-based violence, where survivor-centred reporting was essential.
He further expressed interest in seeing how organisers of the workshop would continue engaging with journalists by highlighting story opportunities and encouraging the inclusion of diverse voices, including those of women, in media coverage. Looking ahead, Mbingo revealed that the Editors Forum was considering the development of a gender policy to guide newsroom practices. He said the forum, which brought together editors from various media houses, would engage its members to explore what could be done within their respective organisations, taking into account the different resources and budgets available.
Mbingo further thanked the organisers of the workshop, including the European Union, United Nations Development Programme, TDR Consulting, and the office of the deputy prime minister, for facilitating what he described as an informative and successful training.
He also congratulated the participating journalists for their engagement during the two-day workshop and expressed hope that the knowledge gained would translate into improved reporting across the country’s media landscape.
