REPORTERS from private and public news agencies are currently engaged in an intensive training seminar on parliamentary reporting at the Public Buildings.

The two-day forum, which was organised by the High Commission of Canada and the Parliament Office in collaboration with the Guyana Press Association and the Association of Caribbean Mediaworkers, commenced on Saturday with some 27 reporters in attendance.
Canadian High Commissioner, Lilian Chatterjeee; Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland; Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs; GPA President, Nazima Raghubir; ACM Executive Member, Wesley Gibbings; Editor-in-Chief of Newsday (Trinidad and Tobago), Judy Raymond; and Parliament Office Public Relations Officer, Yannick December, were among the officials and facilitators on Saturday.

During the opening ceremony which took place in the Parliament Chambers, the GPA President said the training is a critical one and would equip reporters with the necessary knowledge to effectively report on the affairs of Parliament and or the National Assembly.
“I see this training as necessary, as critical and important. We the media have a major role to play in the development of this country as well as ensuring that the democratic processes… are intact. To do that–play our role, to do our job–we must be informed, we must be knowledgeable and most importantly we must be responsible,” she told those present.

The Canadian High Commissioner, while also underscoring the role of the media in a democratic society, said the training programme will assist in sharpening the skills of the press corps with specific focus on the coverage of parliamentary affairs.
High Commissioner Chatterjee noted that a free and opened press is crucial to an informed society, and as such, it is important for media workers to be informed.
“We live in the society where the independent media plays a pivotal role in how we see the world, and how our opinions are formed. Journalists are the vanguards of our democracy. They seek out the truth, challenge assumptions and expose injustices, sometimes at great personal risks,” she stated.

High Commissioner Chatterjee added that the role of reporters is “to investigate and examine facts to ensure that power is checked and decision-makers are held accountable”.
While Parliament represents the pinnacle of democracy, the High Commissioner said the media is the channel to which the deliberations are communicated to the masses.
ACM executive member, Wesley Gibbings, in his very forthright presentation, said the media as the Fourth Estate, and the Parliament as a legislative arm of Government, are two institutions that are indispensible to the democratic process.

“We have these two groups of people who are in a sort of perpetual stage of contestation for different things and the impact on democracy is that the tension between these two groups of people ought to be creative tensions that would lead us to a path of democracy and, because of that democracy, on a path to development,” Gibbings posited.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the National Assembly said the Parliament Office is looking forward to a continued relationship with the press association, and reporters in general. He encouraged that the office be used as a source of information not only during sittings of the National Assembly but also when the assembly is out of sessions, saying that there is a wealth of information that can be utilised.

The media and its role in a growing democracy; from the public gallery: an independent thought on media coverage; parliamentary standing orders and what they mean for the media; parliamentary coverage: members’ perspective; and from the reporter’s notebook: dos and don’ts of coverage of parliamentary committees and debates, were among the topics discussed on Saturday.

Notably, Public Telecommunications Minister, Catherine Hughes; Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira; Members of Parliament Jermaine Figueira and Audwin Rutherford were also present. Guyana Chronicle, Stabroek News, Guyana Times, Kaieteur News, the National Communications Network (NCN), Nightly News, News Update, Newsroom, and the Department of Public Information (DPI) were among news outfits represented during day one of the forum.

The training programme will continue today in the Public Buildings where a possible Code of Conduct for Parliamentary Reporters is among topics to be discussed.