No fewer than 40 Journalists are currently attending a week-long training and re-training on investigative reporting and digital story telling put together by Daily Trust Foundation in collaboration with Mac Arthur foundation.
The programme which began on Monday is expected to end Friday.
At a brief ceremony to kick-start the training, Chairman of Daily Trust Foundation, Malam Wada Maida, said, the Foundation is the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust newspapers.
The foundation was established in 2016.
Malam Maida said the Foundation’s cardinal objective was to respond to social issues in Nigeria and has been actively involved in training journalists.
According to him, “In the last three years, we have organised eight training activities of this nature in order to boost the capacity of journalists to do investigative reporting.
“The training was essential in the internet age as it will help to empower journalists to present news to consumers in a combination of text, audio and visual format for greater impact on just one platform.
“Truth be told, these days videos make a whole lot of impact on readers than the two other options. For instance, Senator Elisha Abbo would have escaped with his indiscretion to assault a nursing mother in Abuja, if it were not for the fact that the video went viral on social media.”
“Can you compare the impact of that video with that of a four paragraph story on a crime page in a newspaper?” Malam Maida enquired.
While he lauded the MacArthur Foundation for the support to Daily Trust Foundation, the media who had worked with BBC and top media establishment urged the participants to take full advantage of the rare opportunity.
The training is split into two sessions comprising the beginners and the advanced class where the 38 participants will learn the process of investigative reporting, practical ways of handling the camera, using audio-visual editing software, among others.
The training in investigative and digital story telling which is ongoing, is meant to respond to the current changes in the taste of consumers of news.
On the impact the programme is expected to make, one of the participants and Blueprint online editor Ikenna Okonkwo said so far, deeper knowledge on the demands of contemporary journalism is being learnt.
