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ORIGO EDITIONS on the baptismal font

ORIGO EDITIONS, the first and current only publishing house of Port-Gentil, which already has many authors in its catalog, was officially inaugurated this Saturday, July 8, 2023, on the occasion of the Literary Day, a event that it organizes and which is, this year, in its third edition.

Journalistic best practices for covering an election campaign

What are the best practices for journalists to observe when covering an election campaign? This theme was the subject of an exchange workshop by videoconference, on April 27, between the cities of Paris, Libreville and Port-Gentil, at the initiative of the United States Embassy in Gabon supported by Africa Regional Service. It was the so-called "American Corner" cultural spaces in Libreville and Port-Gentil that brought together the men and women of the Gabonese media to share their experience and benefit from the advice, from Paris, of Eduardo Cue, an American journalist specializing in political communications. Even if this is not always obvious in Africa, particularly in Gabon, the first rule, guarantee of independence and freedom of judgment, is that the journalist should not be inserted in any political party, nor even in any social organization. , when we know that certain structures presented as charitable can be exploited by politics. The journalist must also have a perfect knowledge of the candidates in the running, of their background and previous experiences, of their campaign programmes, of the results of the outgoing candidates and of the opinion that the populations have for each of them and for the policies which have been implemented for their benefit in terms of promises kept or not kept. As for opinion polls, when they are not done by professionals, they lack credibility. Of course, the journalist must immerse himself in the texts governing the elections, the functioning of the various bodies involved in all stages of the electoral process, etc. Backing up his remarks with numerous examples, the speaker demonstrated the difficulties and challenges to be met in collecting data, processing them in complete independence and impartiality and enlightening public opinion so that it can make an informed decision at the time of the decision. ballot. Scott Milgroom, Director of Public Diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Libreville, hopes this series of workshops (there will be three) will provide participants with valuable tips for effectively reporting on the upcoming elections. .