About twenty agents from the Benin Radio and Television Office (ORTB) strengthened their capacities in data journalism in Cotonou, from June 05 to 07, 2023. The training, initiated by the Office with the support of VOA Africa, should enable participants to improve their performance.
About twenty ORTB agents attended this training course devoted to “data journalism, storytelling and video”. The participants, made up of radio, television and web journalists, familiarized themselves with new techniques for collecting and processing data.
They learned how to identify stories from data and inform in other ways using the new delivery formats. For them, it is now a matter of integrating the new tools made available to them into their practice.
“Three days of training have been very beneficial for us as journalists. What we essentially retain are the new ways of processing information based on evidence”testifies Maurice Thantan, editor at the ORTB Web Service.
These newly acquired skills reinforce their journalistic knowledge according to Claudia Adandé, journalist on duty at the ORTB regional station in Parakou. “What touched me was the training module called visualization. For me, it was the editors, the graphic designers alone who did it. But, during this training, we were taught visualization. So everyone can do it”she rejoices.
Partnership for a modern ORTB
The workshop is organized within the framework of a partnership between the ORTB and the Voice of America (VOA) and intervenes in a context where the public press group implements mechanisms to modernize itself on all levels.
The VOA supports this vision by offering training to ORTB agents in order to increase their performance. “We make a number of programs available on national television. So it is very important for us to honor our part of the commitment which is to train journalists year after year”, reiterates Joseph Katachie of VOA Africa. In 2022, ORTB agents had already received training in multimedia production.
Those in charge of the Beninese public media are delighted with the continuation of the partnership. “It has been a tradition for about two years where the American agency US Agency for global media through the VOA initiates training to strengthen the capacities of ORTB agents”says Nicaise Ahotin, head of the Human Resources Development Department.
