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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. .

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Care Enough to facilitate the integration of young people with disabilities

The situation of people with disabilities, particularly young people, is of concern to Thanya Mengue who has just created Care Enough, an NGO determined to contribute to the building to seek solutions to the problems of schooling, integration and professional reintegration of this category. of populations. For her first outing to Port-Gentil, on Saturday April 22, in a local hotel, she opened her address book to make her guests aware of the difficulties that some families encounter in sending their children with disabilities to school. For her, "the student with a disability is a student like the others, he must have access to the same knowledge and be subject to the same requirements". Alongside the NGO Agir pour le Handicap à l'Ecole and the provincial department of social affairs, she organized a show where Maman Grand Nord and Pierre Levy (slammer resident of the Xavier Center for Specialized Education) spoke about their talent. A charity operation in support of adolescent children and young girls with disabilities. Opportunity for the public to be made aware, through numerous testimonies, of the situation of people with disabilities in the oil city.

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