The European Union, through Trust Lab, has embarked on training Busia-based journalists on cybersecurity and empowerment.
The six-month project, dubbed Safe Voices 040, will be implemented by Dhamira Moja CBO in partnership with DW Akademy, Code for Africa and Siasa Place.
Speaking during the inaugural capacity-building forum at a hotel in Busia on Tuesday, Dhamira Moja CBO Executive Director Sarah Martha noted that at least 60% of journalists based in Busia have faced cyber harassment.
“Our organization carried out a survey two weeks ago and it revealed that 60% of our local journalists have suffered cyberbullying,” she said.
Martha added that the project will also facilitate legal support for the media practitioners affected during their work in the digital space.
“This project will also offer capacity building for the journalists through both physical and online meetings,’ she explained.
The official at the same time said that counseling services will also be offered to affected journalists through the project to ensure their mental and emotional wellness.
Martha also said that a reporting mechanism and hotline will also be created to help both media and community to be able to report cases of online harassment, cyber-crime and digital threats.
Busia Chief Magistrate Edna Nyaloti urged journalists to ensure fairness, accuracy and professionalism while discharging their mandate.
Nyaloti reminded the journalists to carry out fact-checking and ascertain the credibility of news sources instead of rushing to publish information in competition with bloggers.
“Before a journalist publishes a story, it is good to do fact-checking to ascertain the credibility of the story. You should not use the stories published in social media. You also have to consider the rights of others by checking at if the story can harm the reputation of others to avoid defamation cases”
She added that there was a need to ensure proper sensitization of the public for them to understand how to use the social media space.
“The public has to be informed on how to use this space appropriately. They should understand that there are consequences for any information that is shared on social media that undermines other people’s rights,’ she said.
Nyaloti also singled out capacity building as a tool that will help to handle cyber bullying, adding that even the public should be involved together with the judiciary, security and media professionals so that they can have well informed knowledge to help and fight cyber bullying.
Busia County Director of Communication Winston Mbanda acknowledged the challenges media personnel undergo adding that training has come at the right time to help the local journalists understand the issue of cyber security.
“We have learned on how we can safeguard ourselves as media personnel we can capacity build ourselves and understand how best to report adhering to the media ethics so as to protect ourselves”
Mbanda stated that frequent training and capacity building will empower the media personnel and help them understand and identify in case their lives are threatened and how to seek redress in case their life is threatened.
Journalists led by Emanuel Juma said the training will help the journalists to deal with challenges they face in the digital space.
“We have been going through a lot of bullying and harassment in the digital space without clear understanding on how to handle the issues. We have been given the knowledge on how we can handle the issues to ensure our mental and psychological wellbeing is guaranteed. We have also been given insights on the cybercrime cases and how to avoid being in conflict with the law while on duty,” he said.
By Salome Alwanda and Rodgers Omondi
