Swaziland hosts media ethics workshop

3 May 2010

MBABANE: The UNESCO Windhoek Office in partnership with the Swaziland National Commission for UNESCO and the Swaziland Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) will commemorate World Press Freedom Day in Matsapha, Swaziland, with a ten-day workshop on media ethics.

Starting on Monday, 3 May, the workshop will be based on UNESCO's Model Curricula for Journalism Education, which has been adapted according to Swaziland's specific needs. Professor Edward Moyo will introduce the workshop with the outline of the course on media ethics, which is part of the UNESCO curricula.

The course aims to critically examine key ethical issues of journalistic work, such as truth-telling, evidence and journalistic autonomy, which sometimes can be compromised by a conflict of interests. Fact-checking and the use of information sources will be discussed in light of recent apologies made by local reporters further to unchecked information provided by anonymous collaborators.

The course on media ethics has been the subject of a two-week discussion forum moderated by Professor Moyo through the UNESCO Network of African Journalism Schools. The outcomes of the forum will be presented at the workshop in Matsapha.

Source: UNESCO