Spence attends LIAT workshop

Omesha Spence, a reporter with Searchlight, is one of five young Caribbean journalists to have benefited from a media-training workshop which took place last weekend in Curacao.{{more}}

The workshop, which took place at the Breezes Super Clubs resort in Curacao on July 25 and 26, was the first of two two-day workshops to be sponsored by LIAT.

The other participants were Tameika Malone from Antigua’s The Daily Observer, VonDez Phipps of St. Kitts Nevis SKN Vibes, Kayra Williams from St. Lucia’s Star Publishing Company and Geisha Kowlessar from Trinidad and Tobago’s Guardian Newspaper.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, facilitator journalist and Communication Officer of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Johnson JohnRose said that there is a need to have Caribbean journalists trained to become professionals. He added that journalists have lost their way when it comes to understanding their role, and professional journalism cannot be achieved without training.

While stating that the problems that exist within the Caribbean media cannot be solved in a two-day workshop, JohnRose declared that “it is a start.” “We are trying to achieve over a few hours what we need five days to do. It was the realization that there was a problem that led me to convince my bosses at the CTO that this will be beneficial to the region,” he said, adding that his commitment to improving professional journalism also drove him to say yes to the workshop.

The two-day workshop covered topics of basic journalism, including interviewing skills, writing for print and broadcast, writing for disasters, and how to structure a news story.

The Curacao Tourist Board and Breezes Curacao SuperClubs Resort were also sponsors of the Media Training Workshop. (OS)