By Bisi Olominu
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T raining presents a prime opportunity to expand the knowledge base of all employees. Most employees have some weaknesses in their workplace skills, so a training programme allows them to strengthen those skills that they need to improve.” Training helps reduce any weak links within the company who rely heavily on others to complete basic work tasks.

Therefore to bring the best out of the editorial staff of Owena Press Limited, Publisher of The Hope titles, the management between December 27 and 28, 2018 organised a two day training programme for them to sharpen their intellect,boost their confidence, morale and knowledge lacking in news gathering in the company for years back.

Setting the ball rolling, the Chairman and Chief-Executive-Officer of Owena Press Limited, Sir Ademola Adetula said the essence of the training programme was to bridge the gap in respect of communication skill in journalism. He added that the recruitment exercise done by the immediate management was deficient in nature as it did not put in perspective training which was uppermost for the engagement of the editorial staff of the company. He said further that the focus of the training was not to down size but to refocus, re-tutor journalists in the company, in order to bring out the best in them .

The chairman maintained that the training was to bring  journalists in the organisation to a higher level, so that in the next five to six years, they can compete favourably with their counterparts anywhere in Nigeria and in the world.

Sir Adetula urged journalists to always uphold the truth, stressing that any newspaper that does not uphold the truth would soon fold up.

He urged them to make use of the best opportunity the programme afforded them to sharpen their intellect and have respect for the truth as journalists.

The first lecture of the training was delivered by a lecturer of Mass Communication at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Dr Gbenga Abimbola. In his paper titled ‘Principles of News Writing’, he called on Journalists to free their minds from prejudices and should not engage in self censorship while writing stories as they are the gatekeepers in any news outfit.

Abimbola said further that news must be encased in truth and absolute truth, stressing that any news must not be fabricated, but must be the accurate presentation of events.

He said further that news writing must be accurate, balance, fair, complete, clear, brief, simple and with no ambiguity. He said that news writing is just like a pot of soup that must be structured properly.

According to him:” accuracy is a very powerful ingredient and correctness is to the newspapers what virtue is to a lady.  His words:  “Don’t write on assumption, a writer must also include all facts and details and must be brief by conveying the story in a fewer sentence “.

He said the structures of news are headline, the lead and the body, saying headline was the window of any story therefore it must be short to be able to catch the attention of the readers.

The second paper was delivered by the Senior Special Assistant to the Ondo State Governor on Media, Mr Fisayo Falodi.

Falodi in his paper titled ‘Making A Good News Feature said feature stories are designed to bring human element into the picture.

“If a hard news story recounts how about one thousand people are laid off from a local factory, a feature story will focus on the grief of the workers after losing their jobs”, he asserted.

He said to write a good feature, one must first find a topic, find important personalities in the society to interview, get enough facts because facts assist to authenticate the story, get pictures as they explain details, and also get experts’ advice to make the story look real.

“Bring real people into your stories, the essence is to make the topic you are discussing real. Also get plenty of facts, this is necessary because facts assist to establish the authenticity of the report. A writer writing on lack of potable water in a particular community should be able to point out the damage or hazard the only poor water the community depends on for survival has done to the residents”.

He also hammered on being truthful when writing as truth can only prevent persecution whenever any of such arise.

A Director with Ministry of Information, Mr. Olufunmi Williams in his lecture titled “News Features and Development Communication” said a feature writer must put the social responsibility theory to consideration when writing as they are responsible to the people.

He said journalists must be creative in writing by bringing both the government and the people together to work on a collective goal.

” News is perishable, but feature will stand the text of time. A feature writer must see from the common people point of view and make sure that government see to the yearning of the people.

“The intrinsic value of a story must be looked into. In feature story you must look beyond the ordinary and its interpretation must blend together with basic facts.

According to him every feature mast set agenda for the government and the people.

The editorial staff who were happy to have gained a lot during the training could not hide their joy by thanking the chairman for organising such training.

The New Editor, Mr Sola Alatise said the training was first of its kind since he joined the organisation, saying it was timely, apt and pleaded that more of such of that should be organised by the explaining.

Another staff, Mr Kayode Crown said it was a novel development which he has not heard of since he joined the organisation.

“This is a fatherly approach, very timely as we have move a little step better by this training” he stated.

The acting Editor of The Hope,  Mr Akin Adubuola thanked the staff for making themselves available for the seminar, saying those who might not know the value of the training were those who did not come.

He said the training had addressed issues that had bedevilled the staff for so long and therefore called on them to make use of what they have learnt during the training.