June 30, (THEWILL) – The Daily Trust Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the newspaper, recently trained journalists in the North-East on the multimedia aspect of journalism.
The three-day training, which took place at the Eaglespath Hotel and Suites Yola, the capital city of Adamawa State, had in attendance journalists from the North-Eastern region and resource persons who took the journalists through the workshop.
Speaking during the training, Dr. Theophilus Abbah, the Director of the Daily Trust Foundation, said that multimedia journalism is an aspect that can no longer be ignored, while stating that writing for online platforms entails a lot of principles which journalists must adhere to.
He outlined the principles as, investing time in creating good titles, beginning with a summary, making writings digestible, using everyday words, avoiding ambiguity, adding links to deepen your writing, among others.
He also charged journalists to take steps towards reporting the human angle stories rather than the conventional patterns of just breaking the news.
“There are different angles to every story. And most times, the human angle, which is very important, is ignored. The human angle appeals more to the audience because they can relate easily,” he said.
Still speaking, Abbah explained that the human angle of journalism could be stories about, overcoming adversity, raising awareness, tales of exceptional human achievement, acts of bravery or unsung heroes.
Explaining the audience wheel of needs, Mr Perry During, one of the resource persons, said that different people have different news needs, hence the reporter must identify these needs and treat them accordingly.
The needs according to him could be, to educate, update, inspire, divert, give a perspective or even to keep the audience up on new trends.
Mr. Akinrowo, on his part, explained the technical aspect of multimedia journalism and advised journalists to consider it as it is very fast, effective and has a lot of impact on the audience.
One of the participants, Mrs. Susan Edeh, a Correspondent of Daily Independent Bauchi State, confessed that the workshop has been educative, interactive and very impactful.
“This time another aspect of journalism was brought to the fore. The training took a different dimension, not the normal style of journalism we used to know,” she pointed out.
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