Fondation Hirondelle, in partnership with Reporters Without Borders, organised on 25 June in Abidjan a training and information seminar on the "Journalism Trust Initiative", a label created by RSF.

Highlight and promote trustworthy journalism. This is what Reporters Without Borders is trying to promote through the creation of the "Journalism Trust Initiative" or "JTI" label. This initiative aims to question and value the reliability of the news media according to their respect for a set of standards and indicators of their professional ethics.

Fondation Hirondelle, which also disseminates and puts into practice these values around a quality and proximity press, has committed to help promote this new tool in the African context.

"We chose to organise this seminar because it was important for us to come and meet our colleagues in charge of the media in Côte d'Ivoire, but also in the sub-region, to discuss our tool with them, to present it to them and to gather their opinions," explained Marc Aboflan, RSF's project manager for Africa, during the Abdijan seminar.

The seminar was held on 25 June in Abidjan. It brought together nearly 50 journalists, including 10 women, mainly from the Ivorian media, but also attracted professionals from Burkina Faso, Togo and Guinea. While radio representatives came in majority, print media, television and Ivorian press regulatory bodies (Autorité Nationale de la Presse (ANP), Haute Autorité de la Communication Audiovisuelle (HACA) were also represented.

The session was facilitated by Fondation Hirondelle trainer Martin Faye and coordinated by our colleague Aissatou Barry, also a journalist and vice president of the Association of Scientific Journalists of Guinea.

The new tool of JTI was presented by Marc Aboflan accompanied by the director of the initiative Olaf Steenfeld. The first session was devoted to explaining the JTI and the advantages, especially competitive, that obtaining the label can represent for the media. 

The second session was devoted to the experiences of Ivorian media around this project. It ended with the intervention of Alassane Abdou Mahamane, the editor-in-chief of Studio Kalangou, our media in Niger. Our news studio based in Niamey is the first African media to have acquired this label and therefore has valuable experience to share. 

"We have noticed that there is a strong interest from the Ivorian media for this quality label. There is a real demand for quality in the production of media content," said Marc Aboflan at the end of the day.

A point of view shared by Sébastien Ahouman, participant and journalist at the Abidjan media "Opera News": "This platform allows us to know which media are doing their job properly. It is a way to distinguish oneself from others who are not always credible. It can help decision-makers and the public to know which media to turn to for the right information".