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BBC JOURNALIST CONCLUDES THREE-DAY TRAINING FOR STUDENTS IN GAMBIA

Esau Williams, a BBC News presenter, and producer completes a three-day training for the Media Academy for Journalism and Communication students in the Gambia.

The BBC journalist who had over 10 years of experience with one of the world's leading media institutions, delivered lectures on key areas of journalism. This includes idea development, research, interviews, sourcing, news presentation, and production.

The training brought together Diploma and Advanced Diploma students of the Academy.

Sang Mendy, the Managing Director of the school who facilitated the training said, it is part of their plans to better prepare the students for better deliverables in the newsroom.

'Our English teacher always emphasises that the students listen to the BBC.' 

'We can inspire them, giving reference to what we do and how we did it before. But here is someone working for the BBC which is a reference for global broadcasting, will inspire them. This is the objective and also to learn from a great mind like Esau', Sang said.

The BBC Focus on Africa producer and presenter said the areas he discussed with the students 'form the bedrock of any proper journalistic career.' 

'The point of the training is to boost and add capacity to the work that journalists do in the Gambia.' 

'We have issues with the National Journalism Awards. We don't think the quality of journalism is up to scratch. This is just an effort to improve that' he added. 

Adama Sanneh a Diploma student said he has learned a lot of new things that were not taught in class. 'Now I will be able to look at little things and make good news out of them.'

'There are a lot of things going on that we feel are not important. But going through the training and knowing you can think beyond, that will help me to become better.'

Media Academy for Journalism and Communication (MAJaC), was established in 2010 by the Gambia Press Union.

Its focus is to 'strengthen democracy in the Gambia through quality journalism and effective communication.'

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