Following a seminar held in Rabat from May 23 to 27, the Atlantic Federation of African Press Agencies (FAAPA) officially announced the creation of a vast network of sports journalists.
The goal? To promote exchanges and skills transfer in order to professionalize quality sports journalism on the continent.
The sports press plays a key role in the healthy development of sport on the African continent. That is why FAAPA aims to provide the means to train professional journalists in the mastery of good techniques and best practices.
Beyond skills, there is also the issue of the accuracy of information. When it comes to sports, and particularly soccer, journalists often lack impartiality in their coverage of sports news. This observation is shared by professionals in the sector, such as Séné Ossebi…
When we receive information from these federations, which involve several clubs, and the correspondent who processes the information and sends us his article, we can sense a certain lack of impartiality in the text. From a journalistic point of view, this is not what the reader expects. We therefore have a duty to remain vigilant and to verify the information before publication. This problem is even more acute in the case of local competitions that are not covered by the more mainstream media."
The creation of this network of sports journalists will enable the FAAPA to organize seminars, meetings, and training courses to support the development of sports journalism skills and improve performance and productivity.
Salif Diallo, head of the sports department at the Senegalese Press Agency (APS), has been appointed coordinator of the new network.