WIMSAL holds forum on Islam & journalism
Women in the Media–Sierra Leone held a joint day-long forum on Islam, Journalism and Development over the weekend at the cultural consulate of the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 25 Howe Street, Freetown.
Speaking during the occasion, Salmata Bah of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation, who chaired the occasion, commended the executive of WIMSAL for partnering with the Iranian cultural consulate in discussing issues militating around Islam as religion, journalism as a profession, and development as a human enterprise.
Such initiatives, she said are a novelty worth emulating. Salmata Bah encouraged journalists to make use of such an opportunity to help spread the message of Islamic peace.
In his overview, Iran’s Cultural Chancellor, Mohammad Reza Ghezel Sofla said the forum is held to see how both parties would work in earnest to propagate the message of peace love and unity among the human race. The media, he said, is a vital tool in any development platform. He said the coinage of Islam, Journalism, and Development as topic for the day-long forum was born out of the realization that, no development is possible without the concerted efforts of joint support. I can see that the media is one major tool to use when development such as achieving world peace that cuts through religions and different perspectives is concerned. Mr. Sofla expressed hope to see more impact in the area of journalists reporting issues regarding Islam. He said implementation and selfishness are problems besetting the human race even though they are often being downplayed. “Most people often tend to not implement what they should do to actually promote humanity, they are instead busy thinking self, which makes them so selfish”, Sofla noted.
He admonished the participants to keep the truth as virtue in all their endeavours. Sofla said the inner veil (hijab) which gives mankind premium to the almighty is piety. He asked all female journalists to kindly report Islamic issues accurately as Islam and journalism are bedfellows as far as unveiling facts and truth is concerned.
Presentations were made on different topics by individuals like Haja Saiminatu Kassim who spoke on the perception of the west about women and Islam. Ishmael Koroma Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, presented a topic on Journalism Islam and Development and the Public Relations Officer of SLAJ, Saio Kamara presented a topic on role of women in the media in peace building.
The forum was a very interactive one that brought together almost 30 journalists from both print and electronic media into wider variety of topical discussions. President of WIMSAL, Zainab Kanu of the African Young Voices Magazine (AYV) gave the vote of thanks.
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