By Yero S. Bah
Mansa Banko Online newspaper on December 5, 2020 held day-long in-house training session for its staff reporters and freelancers on interview technique. The training was part of requirements of the Gambia Government COVID-19 Media Support grant, of which this Online medium received D200,000.00 (two hundred thousand dalasis).
The training was held at the Headquarters of the Global Youth Innovation Network (GYIN Gambia) in Bijilo.
According to the proprietor of Mansa Banko Online, Mr. Mamadou Edrisa Njie, the training was meant to equip the journalist participants with some of the latest interview techniques, so as to help the reporters and freelancers of the online paper improve themselves on their daily reporting and journalism profession.
He however, noted that for some of the reporters and freelancers, it’s more of a refresher training as most of the journalists present at the training were already professionals in their “respective beats” or journalism trade, in general. He said Mansa Banko Online is working with professionals.
Besides, Njie seized the opportunity to shed some light on the D200,000.00 received by his Newspaper, disclosing fifty percent (50%) of the funds are meant for the reporters and freelancers whilst the rest (other fifty percent (50%) would be for the operational cost and other overhead bills.
The online media chief told the participants that organizing such training programmes for them was in fulfilment of that requirement of the grant. Njie expressed his infinite gratitude to the freelancers and reporters of the medium as well as to the grant providers and all the stakeholders who contributed towards the successful implementation of the training. He promised that more training programmes would follow from this first one, in the future.
For the Lead Facilitator and Program Manager of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), Mr. Lamin Jahateh, the training was meant to better equip the Mansa Banko Online journalists with current interview techniques. He took the participants through various interview tricks and techniques such as the principles of interview, ground rules governing interview, the Dos and Don’ts as well as the types of questions journalists should be asking during interviews.
Jahateh advised the journalists to be well-prepared whenever they want to conduct interviews, emphasising the best thing that a journalist should do always is to make background research on the topics and interviewees. He added that journalists should get the basic knowledge on anything they would be interested in conducting an interview on as that would enable them to craft the right questions as well as give a sense of control of the interviews and interviewees.
Meanwhile, the reporters have expressed their appreciation of the training and hailed the media outlet’s decision of conducting such a timely training for them, acknowledging it has freshened their minds on interview techniques and other ethical issues.
During the training, participants were given practical tasks on interview techniques, in order to gauge their understanding of the day’s training programme, whilst both the participants and the training facilitator gave feedback at the end of the sessions.
The online medium is also planning to organize Editors’ forum to bring the editorial team together, to discuss the Online newspaper’s reporting styles in 2021 and beyond.
