Speaking at a media briefing Wednesday, UWI Principal Professor Clement Sankat said, “With advancements in technology and the dynamic and competitive environment in which we function, different competencies need to be developed in order to respond effectively and meet the demands of the profession.
“This programme in journalism therefore demonstrates our keen commitment as a university to respond to our stakeholder need and to provide customised training in a discipline that is critical to our growth and development as a society, a country and a region,” he said.
The one-year full-time program has been approved for government funding through its GATE program.
It begins in January 2011 and is aimed at young people who want to enter the field of journalism or media practitioners who want to improve their skills to perform even more effectively in a 21st century media environment.
Among courses offered in the program are Media in Caribbean Society, Reporting the News, Journalism and Business, Introduction to New Media Technologies.
Publisher emeritus and former chief executive officer of Caribbean Communications Network, Ken Gordon is the driving force behind the program.
Gordon, who raised funds to ensure the viability of the program, said the program is a good beginning. He added that he hopes to see it become a degree program "in a relatively very short period of time."
The President of the Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) Kiran Maharaj, who also spoke at the launched, warned of a decline in media because of the lack of motivation and passion by those who work in the media.
“Many years ago people got involved in the industry mainly out of passion, few of us had training, but that is dwindling. It’s dwindling too because there is not just a lack of the availability of proper training and education and guidance but there is a lack of motivation,” Maharaj said.
Maharaj technological advances have made it easy for rumour and false information to feed the population and paint a canvas of chaos. “In an era like this, good journalism is necessary,” she said. “It goes beyond reporting...It is about fact-finding so that the pipelines of information are filled with quality and fairness.”
She stated that stakeholders and shareholders must become involved in the process of "ensuring that our industry continues on a path of excellence” She added, “If we don’t start now to do something about, it in a few years many positions for leaders will become vacant and our industry will die."
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