Malam Umar Abdullahi, Board member Daily Trust Foundation addressing participants during the opening session of the 3-days workshop on multimedia journalism held in Abuja.
By CALLISTUS OFFOR, Abuja-
The Management of Daily Trust Foundation, has tasked journalists to acquire new skills set, discipline and attitudes in order to be relevant in modern journalism profession.
The Chairman, Daily Trust Foundation, Alhaji Bilya Bala gave the charge on Monday during the opening session of a three day workshop on multimedia journalism, held at the new training centre in Abuja.
NATIONAL ACCORD reports that the participants would be trained in various multimedia tasks including: The use of digital gadgets for news writing and reporting, video and audio content production, data journalism, social media journalism, livestreaming events, digital marketing, amongst others.
Alhaji Bala who was represented by the Board member, Malam Umar Abdullahi, explained that journalists in the 21st century who do not have relevant skills and cannot cope with multiple demands would be phased out of journalism profession, hence the need for the mutimedia training.
He further stressed that the lack of ICT skills was one of the major lapses journalists should strive to address in their profession.
The Chairman however called on the participants to effectively utilized the workshop in building up their multimedia journalism skills.
“We have brought together experts in the field of new journalism to take you through at no cost. We encourage you to pay attention, learn as much as possible and most importantly, put what you will learn to practice”.
“New skills are difficult to acquire. But we have discovered that digital platforms have inbuilt tutorials. If you labour, perspire and work hard it, in no time you will be very skillful and relevant in your chosen profession. I therefore encourage you never to give up”, the chairman said.
Daily Trust Foundation is the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust titles, with headquarters in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria. It is a non-profit organization involved in diverse social and support activities. They include capacity building for journalists, scholarships to enhance the girl-child education, support for orphanages, provision of materials to cushion the plight of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the country.