DG editor, reporter join international trainings

Top Daily Guardian editorial personnel will attend two journalism-related trainings in Europe and Australia this month.

Editor-in-chief Francis Allan L. Angelo is bound for Stockholm, Sweden for Phase 4 of the International Training Programme (ITP) on media development and self-regulation initiated by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

Sida has commissioned NIRAS Sweden AB to organize this ITP in cooperation with International Media Support (IMS), Fojo Media Institute/Linnaeus University, and Global Reporting Sweden AB.

Angelo is the lone Ilonggo representative to the programme, along with fellow journalists in the Philippines and Asia.

This ITP is a fellowship programme that provides a forum for constructive, creative dialogue between high-level representatives from media, government and civil society on how to improve self-regulatory and regulatory frameworks for media.

Angelo’s trip to Sweden gives him the opportunity to learn how Swedish journalists go about with the concept of media self-regulation which instills accountability and transparency.

After the programme, each country team is expected to come up with change initiatives they will implement in their respective areas.

At the end of the training programme, it is envisaged that participating individuals and organisations shall have obtained:

• Increased knowledge about media and freedom of expression in relation to media policy, journalism and self-regulation of the media sector;
• Extended professional national, regional, and international networks;
• Greater awareness of human rights, gender equality and security for journalists and other media actors; and
• Increased knowledge and capacity to initiate structured, long-term transformational work within and outside their respective organisations.

From October to November 2022, Angelo also joined the International Visitor Leadership Program on “Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists: Media Responsibility in an Age of Disinformation for the Indo-Pacific” in several cities and states in the US.

Meanwhile, DG senior reporter Joseph Bernard A. Marzan will also be travelling to Sydney and Canberra, Australia today for a week-long Media Benchmarking Study Tour in the land down under, together with 9 other journalists from other parts of the country.

The tour, sponsored by Griffith University in Queensland state through the Australia Awards, will delve into Australian public policy and develop key professional competencies for mid-career journalists from the Philippines.

Its aim is to build linkages and provide opportunities to deepen understanding of life in Australia, through engagements with Australian media and policy experts, as well as fellow journalists.