THERE WILL BE INK - Initiative for Policy Dialogue

younger journalists interviewed struggled, including the extractive industries. Two of the veteranjournalists interviewed had been reporting on the mining industry for decades and seemed to knowhow to extract information about the notoriously controlled industry, and write a comprehensivemining story. Such experience is extremely valuable and should be utilized in any potential trainingsbased in Ghana.A couple of journalists interviewed said that they were wary of attending trainings in which the hostor funding organization had an obvious position or bias on the subject of the training. Thesejournalists said that whether an oil company or a mining area community group was leading thetraining, they would be skeptical of its intended objectives.Chart 5: Number of journalists in Ghana ranking the above training topics as“very helpful” to their careersTraining LocationOn that note, the location of the program is an important component. Location is not as importanta consideration for a broad training program, such as IIJ’s Economic and Financial Reportingprogram, which covers numerous topics in an introductory manner. However, it would seem thatGhana would benefit greatly from a more focused program that is hosted within the country. Thisway the program could focus on West African and/or Ghanaian issues that are specific to theregion. In addition, such a program could bring some of Ghana’s best young journalists together inone place, which would encourage the development of a professional core of business and economicjournalists in the country. A local program would also benefit greatly by being able to partner withexisting institutions with relevant and shared missions, such as the Accra-based Institute forFinancial and Economic Journalism. Of course, a local training program would also be cheaper toorganize and implement, for both the organization funding and/or hosting the training, and thejournalists themselves. Finally, such a program could allow journalists to continue working for theirmedia houses, perhaps on a part-time basis, or in a manner in which they are only publishing articleswritten as a result of the training program.That said, many journalists were very positive about the advantages of trainers from other countries,particularly seasoned, specialized journalists. A domestic training program in the extractive– 82 –