NGO Call For Continuous Enhancement Of Skills Among Media Practitioners

The Step-Up for Women in Journalism Initiative (SUPWIJI), has urged media practitioners to learn and embrace modern journalism skills to enable them stay relevant, become financially viable and uphold integrity in the profession.
The executive director of SUPWIJI, Mrs. Ann Godwin, stated this in Port Harcourt on Thursday at a workshop organized by the group to mark its one year anniversary. The event was supported by the Advancing Women in Business (AWIB) and Princewill Trust Foundation.
Ann disclosed that with the Nigerian economy ailing, it is pertinent for media practitioners to think outside the box and follow the shift towards digital data and solution journalism among others.
Giving practical lectures on pitching, she explained that opportunities to explore abound in the profession such as grants, fellowships, trainings among others as she urged journalists to remain focused, work hard and network to enable them partake in the numerous opportunities.
Ann Godwin also stressed the need for women journalists to work hard and intelligently, to up their skills to take up leadership spaces that abound in the media industries and stand out in life.
Executive Director of AWIB, Mrs Josephine Itonyo, while delivering a lecture on Entrepreneurship in Media and Finance, stressed the need for women in the media to be powerful and influential wherever they find themselves.
Mrs. Itonyo, represented by Mrs Mourinho Umah, the administrator for AWIB, urged women journalists to develop themselves financially by investing in legitimate businesses that would give them financial independence.
She said that media practitioners should have integrity and a legitimate way of making money to be financially independent.
”They should also take advantage of learning skills and improve on knowledge that can increase their earning capacity. Media practitioners should be more influential and relevant in the society, avoid negative attitude that will question their integrity.
“They should not be money wasters and avoid paying late fees and missing deadlines; instead they should save their finance for the rainy day and block leakages,” Itonyo said.