Workshop to present and discuss the training manual for media professionals on security issues and security sector reform / democratic governance.

The training manual for media professionals on security issues and security sector reform/democratic governance aims to encourage the proper handling of sensitive information and to support an inclusive approach by the media sector. An objective of great importance given the continuous proliferation of global and multifaceted threats as well as the rapidly changing media landscape.

The two panels of the meeting addressed the importance of journalism in contributing to Security Sector Reform/Democratic Governance. Journalism can thus help readjust attention to populations and their suffering in the face of insecurity.

Panelists and participants explored the complex relationship between national security interests, freedom of expression, freedom of information and the resulting journalistic responsibility. The contexts of Mali, Nigeria and Cameroon show the importance for journalists to focus the public interest and their reliance on reliable sources, despite environments of instability, insecurity and sensitive information. To better equip journalists in facing this challenge has been the manual’s underlying purpose.

This workshop was attended by state authorities, diplomatic representations based in Senegal, media professionals and representatives of the Senegalese defense and security forces. Furthermore, this workshop was an opportunity to pay tribute to the late Mrs. Eugénie Rokhaya AW NDIAYE who was the senior consultant of the project. A cornerstone of the Senegalese press herself, the late Eugénie R. AW NDIAYE was devoted to the rules of ethics and professional conduct in journalism as well as to strengthening democracy. She had an extraordinary background and was one of the first journalists and communication specialists in Senegal. An expert on security and gender issues, she had been working with the FES for many years. Her death is an immense loss for the media world but also for the intellectual world.