African Elections Project Launches myliberiawins and Media Guide

African Elections Project, an election monitoring organization based in the West African state of Ghana, has launched a website that will provide information about Liberia's pending elections.The website www.myliberiawins .org will provide news, results, analysis, violence monitoring and features about Liberia's electoral activities and other national issues.

According to William Sam of the African Elections Project, Liberia will make the total of 11 countries that they have monitored their elections over the past years.He named those countries their activities had been in as Ghana, Mauritania, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Togo, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Niger.

Speaking as a guest launcher on May 19, 2011 at the Corina Hotel in Sinkor, Monrovia, the Professor for Mass Communication at the University of Liberia, Joe W. Mulbah stressed the importance of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and said it is incumbent upon journalists of contemporary days to know their uses in the profession.Professor Mulbah said unlike past days when journalists only relied on pen and paper to communicate, more devices have come as a result of advancement in technology that communication is now done through different means.

"Today technology has improved, and communication is done through various means that pen and paper are becoming less important. Journalists nowadays have to learn computer, or else you will be wasting your own time," Professor Mulbah stressed.

Opposition politician Charles Brumskine who also attended the launching ceremony told journalists at the program to be ethical and give equal coverage to all parties in the elections.
He said the upcoming presidential election is a 'great moment' in the political history of Liberia that the media has a critical role to play to prevent conflict.

In addition to role journalists must play in the election, the Secretary General of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), Acarus Gray told journalists to be independent and give equal access to all parties as their ethics require.

Also commenting on the role of journalists in the coming elections, the President of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), Peter Quaqua warned Liberian journalists whether member or nonmember of the PUL to work in accordance with the code of conduct of the umbrella organization.

Speaking specifically to journalists from Monrovia and rural community radio stations who attended the launching ceremony, Mr. Quaqua warned them to be conscious of what politicians say about their opponents, noting, "if a politician uses any unacceptable language against another and you do not stop him/her but allow it to continue, you will be a facilitator of the conflict that may arise".

The African Elections Project was established in 2008 with the vision of enhancing the ability of journalists, citizen journalists and the news media to provide more timely and relevant information and knowledge about elections, while monitoring specific and important aspects of governance in their countries.

The African Elections Project in Liberia directly responds to the need for an Information and Communication Technology (ICT), based platform to monitor election incidents of violence, irregularities and human rights abuses, spanning the period of pre-elections, and advancing human freedom in Liberia.


AEP

Editors schooled on how to cover the oil sector

Senior journalists and editors are attending a training workshop on Strengthening media oversight of oil, gas and minerals in Ghana and Uganda at the Capital View Hotel in Koforidua.

 

The workshop, according to Mr Kwami Ahiabenu, a Director at Penplusbytes who organized the workshop in collaboration with Revenue Watch International, is designed to "Increase the quantity and quality of stories in" the media.

 

Explaining the rationale for the workshop, Mr Ahiabenu said, "Good governance of oil, gas and mining resources and revenues requires effective oversight. A knowledgeable and active media is critical to having an informed and engaged public, civil society and parliament that can hold government and companies to account. However, in many resource-rich countries, journalists often lack knowledge and skills in investigating oil, gas and mineral issues."

 

The workshop is therefore meant to equip journalists and editors with the requisite knowledge and skills to enable them adequately cover the sector. The objective of Penplusbytes, he said, is to offer "learning opportunities, coaching and mentoring of journalists and media organization in ICT Journalism."

 

Important exercise

The president of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Ransford Tetteh, and his Secretary, Mr Bright Blewu are both in attendance.

 

Mr Blewu said the presence of the two of them in the workshop demonstrates the importance they attach to issues relating to media coverage of oil and gas issues.

 

Communications Manager of Tullow Oil, one of the Jubilee partners, Mr Gayheart Mensah, reiterated the need for expectations of the citizenry about the contributions of oil to the economy to be managed. In his own words, "Our expectations need to be tempered."

 

While saying the oil find is quite significant and will provide Ghana with some reprieve, the point must be emphasized, he maintained, that expectations that Ghana will be transformed overnight because of oil, are unrealistic.

 

source : http://news.myjoyonline.com/business/201105/65731.asp

Ghana’s Editors meet on Oil and Gas

In order to strengthen the capacity of the Ghanaian media to cover extractive industries as a whole and oil and Gas sector to be specific, Revenue Watch Institute and International Institute for ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes) in conjunction with the Ghana Journalist Association are organising three day retreat from  13^th to 15^th in Ghana's Eastern regional Capital of Koforidua.

 

This retreat will bring together senior editors from print, radio and TV as well as government, Members of Parliament, oil and Gas companies, leaders from Civil Society Organisations working in the oil and gas sector to deliberate on key areas such as the latest development in the extractive industry; the role of Civil Society Organisations in the oil & gas sector, status of oil and gas legislations, policies and regulations. In addition, a focus-group discussion will take place on how to stimulate oil & gas stories in the Ghanaian media and strategies for strengthening the overall capacity of the media in oil & gas reporting.

 

This retreat forms part of Revenue Watch Institute and Penplusbytes "Strengthening Media Oversight of the Extractive Sectors Pilot Program" in Ghana. The program aims at promoting good governance and an effective oversight of the oil, gas and mining (extractive) resources and revenues. The ultimate objective is to have a knowledgeable and active media which is critical to having an informed and engaged public, civil society and parliament that can hold government to account.

Currently a group of 8 Ghanaian journalists are undertaking an 8 month capacity building process. During this period, journalists participate in an overview course to consolidate their understanding of the oil and gas sector, followed by a more in-depth course, mentoring programme, bursaries support for stories, international field trips and awards.  Two more groups of journalists are also expected to benefit from this program.  

Kwami Ahiabenu, II of Penplusbytes stressed the importance of the retreat and believes that "by bringing Ghana's leading editors together for this retreat, it will go a long way to enable the media in Ghana to  effectively perform its accountability role while at the same contributing  to the improved use of oil, gas and other minerals for the public good.

 

He added the urgent need to increase the quantity and quality of oil and gas stories which he opined "can only be achieved not only by providing training for journalists but also ensuring key editors are also part of and parcel of capacity building process."

 

 

Editors Note

PENPLUSBYTES www.penplusbytes.org  is a registered non profit since 18th July 2001 with the vision of driving excellence in ICT journalism. www.reportingoilandgas.org is a project of Penplusbytes.

GHANA JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION (GJA) founded in 1949 as the key professional umbrella organization representing Ghanaian Journalists.                                                                                                       

REVENUE WATCH INSTITUTE www.revenuewatch.org promotes the transparent and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources for the public good.          

16th Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards to include Oil and Gas Reporting

 

The annual GJA awards, has seen a major boost by the inclusion of an oil and gas sector award for both print and electronic media.

The Oil and Gas award under category two of the GJA awards is principally sponsored by Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) working with Penplusbytes (Ghana) as part of "Strengthening Media Oversight of the Extractive Sectors Pilot Program". The program hopes to holistically and intensively support participating journalists over the long term with the ultimate goal of stimulating effective and consistent coverage by the media of extractive resources and revenues, thereby contributing to their improved use for the public good in Africa.

Kwami Ahiabenu of Penplusbytes indicates that "good governance of oil, gas and mining (extractive) resources and revenues requires effective oversight and a knowledgeable and active media is critical to having an informed and engaged public, civil society and parliament that can hold government to account and we are working to ensure  journalists are equipped to play this role effectively "

The deadline for submission of entries is 5.00pm on Monday, May, 9 and entries should cover works published or broadcast from the period of January 1 2010 to December 31, 2010.

The winner of this category will be announced along the other categories at the prestigious GJA awards on August 20^th and will be presented with a lap-top computer, a special plaque and a certificate.

Commenting on the awards, Jackie Christie Revenue Watch Institute Project Manager said "increasingly reporters are attempting to cover the extractive sector as it becomes a larger part of the national debate and this must be encouraged.  This award will help showcase good reporting around extractive governance and help raise the benchmark for other journalists wanting to  specialise in oil and gas reporting this area"

Ends

Editors Note

PENPLUSBYTES is a registered non profit since 18th July 2001 with the vision of driving excellence in ICT journalism.

GHANA JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION (GJA) founded in 1949 as the key professional umbrella organization representing Ghanaian Journalists.                                                                                                       

REVENUE WATCH INSTITUTE promotes the transparent and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources for the public good.