County News
Journalists, bloggers targeted in training to achieve peaceful elections
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Mukhtar Abdi Ogle, the Secretary of the Strategic Initiatives at the Executive Office of the Presidency explain a point during the 3-day forum. (Courtesy)
NAIROBI—Social media influencers and journalists could inflame the political atmosphere in the country in the run up to the General Elections.
As part of the effort to avert tension and repeat of 2017 post-election skirmishes, journalists and bloggers have been trained on vocabulary choice and how to report on important subject issues without flaring up political tension.
In a 3-day training forum held in Nairobi, the participants examined the changing media landscape particularly with the advent of social media and how to bring out the issues that are close to the people at the backdrop of a tense electioneering period.
”We have huge leaps in technological capability—virtual reality, live video uploads, instant messaging and chat apps,” Mr Mukhtar Abdi Ogle, the Secretary of the Strategic Initiatives Unit,Cabinet Affairs in the Executive Office of the Presidency observed.
He adds that, ”The key strategic objective of the forum is to retool the young, upcoming and energetic media players especially bloggers toward responsible journalism and inspire every Kenyan as a partner for peace.”
Political bloggers with significant online following have the potential to influence public perception. At the forum, they were trained on how to be responsible with their content.
Ogle noted that, ”Social media has exciting opportunities for information sharing on health, education, agriculture and more significantly nurture community connections.”
”Such powerful platforms, however bring with them a host of contingent existential risks,” he added.
Duped the ”Media Practitioners , Bloggers and Social Media Activists Training Forum For Peaceful Elections,” the event was orgernised by the The Strategic Initiatives Unit,Cabinet Affairs in the Executive Office of the Presidency in collaboration with the Aga Khan University.
The country is to hold its sixth general elections in August 2017.
