22 Jun 2014

For the media to bring greater understanding of the world of economics to the wider public, they must in the first instance understand it or at least command a fair amount of its rudiments.

Giving a keynote address at a two-day training workshop for reporters on economic reporting on Small and Medium Enterprises in Gaborone, June 18, Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe said it was important for the media practitioners to be grounded in economic reporting and development issues as well as understand how markets operate and how consequently businesses falter or prosper.

Dr Kedikilwe said Small Medium and Micro-Enterprises (SMMEs) have been identified around the world as critical elements for achieving sustainable inclusive development through a more diversified and productive economy. Promotion of SMMEs has become a core component of government efforts to eradicate absolute poverty and promote citizen empowerment, including the youth as well as a catalytic segment for growing and diversifying the economy as a whole, he said.

Thus, he said the promotion of SMMEs through self-help packages and concessional loans, training and mentoring and the facilitation of market access along the supply chain have cascaded into government’s flagship programmes such as Economic Diversification Drive, Youth Empowerment Scheme and Poverty Eradication.

Vice President further said government appreciates that the private media, like the private sector in general, has its own challenges such as relatively small market and the infancy of indigenous publishing and other media related activities. He said given such challenges ‘it is important for stakeholders to come together to constructively address their common challenges and opportunities’.

Dr Kedikilwe further called for newsrooms to invest more in coordinated training programmes, considering the level of skills shortage across the media profession and also the cause of some possible loss of public trust in the media.He called editors to protect the freedom of expression by ensuring that it was not abused.

“Let there be coherence between headlines and the substantive story. Unfair innuendo is uncalled for,” he said. Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) chief executive officer, Mr Thabo Thamane said as a funding agency of SMMEs, CEDA found it necessary to organise the workshop to empower journalists after realising that there was a gap in reporting on stories relating to SMMEs.

 He said the media as a critical stakeholders for CEDA, should be equipped with the necessary skills required to make a meaningful contribution towards the lives of the people.

Botswana Editors Forum chairperson, Mr Spencer Mogapi said even as there were differences, the private media relationship with government was important and that they should continue engaging one another.

“Highlighting our differences with the government does not mean that we do not like our country,” he said, calling for due diligence in reporting to avoid shoddy, unbalanced reports as they tarnish the image of the profession. The workshop was organised by Editors Forum and sponsored by CEDA. ENDS