By Rose Cross Mahorya

Mzuzu, April 25, Mana: Media Council of Malawi has asked female journalists in the country to familiarise themselves with digital tools that can help them stay safe while using digital platforms to disseminate information.

Speaking in Mzuzu on Thursday during a one day digital skills and online safety training for female journalists, Media Council of Malawi Executive Director, Moses Kaufa said female journalists have for long been victims of online abuse in the course of their work.

“This training was organised so that female journalists can be equiped with skills on better usage of digital tools as the media is now largely utilising digital spaces to remain relevant.

“The aim of the training is also to ensure female journalists who are mostly facing abuses as they work with digital media to get familiar with tools that will help them protect themselves from the abuses,” said Kaufa.

Delivering his presentation on “Using Digital Tools for Reporting”, veteran journalist and educator Winston Mwale encouraged the scribes to familiarise themselves with multiple tools which aside assuring security for themselves, will also aide their daily work.

“As journalists, you need to be aware of digital tools around you, how you can access them and utilise them to your advantage.

“However, always remember that using digital tools does not take away your responsibility to remain ethical in all your reporting,” advised Mwale.

One of the participants, Towera Katswiri said the training has been an eye opener to most female scribes since during the training they were exposed to some digital tools and platforms which were new to them.

“During the training, we were also reminded to remain ethical by verifying all our sources of information and include statistics where necessary before publishing our stories.

“As female scribes, we are coming out of the training enlightened on how we can protect ourselves while working online” said Katswiri, a reporter with Zodiak Broadcasting Station and Deputy General Secretary for Association of Women in Media.

The training was supported by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).