Twenty-two photo and video journalists are benefiting from a five-day intensive capacity-building workshop organised by the Dikan Center, an NGO focused on visual education and safeguarding the cultural heritage of Ghana.

The workshop which is funded by the US Embassy in Accra is aimed at empowering photo and video journalists with the essential skills and knowledge needed to report ethically and conscientiously.

Participants of the five-day intensive training workshop are being trained by distinguished individuals such as Peter Joseph Souza, a renowned photographer and the former Chief Official White House Photographer for former US President Obama and Alice Gabriner, a photo editor at The New York Times.

Representing the US Embassy at the workshop, Public Diplomacy Counselor at the Embassy, Emily Fertik observed that Ghana is visually rich but unfortunately, newspaper and online stories lack the appropriate photos that will appeal to the senses of readers.

She, therefore, emphasised that the training will help these photo and video journalists to enrich stories with appropriate pictures and videos.

“As I started to read the newspapers and the online stories, what I see is that we need more photographs. We need more photographs that connect and tell the nuances of the stories,” she said.

She further underscored the importance of ethical and conscientious photo and video journalism in the fight against misinformation and disinformation.

She explained that even though manipulation of photos and videos exists, photojournalism primarily helps to show the truth of happenings of events.

She said, “We have an instinct that if you are seeing a video or photograph, that is more true because we think words can be manipulated.

"We are learning more and more every day just how sophisticated visual manipulation can be whether it’s a video or whether it’s a still photograph.

"So increasing the consumer media literacy of what to look for to see whether or not a video or photograph has been manipulated in a way that alters the truth of what was actually captured is an incredibly important element to it.

"What I think needs to happen even before that again is to show photojournalism as showing the truth of what has happened.”

Executive Director of Dikan Center, Paul Ninson said the photojournalism industry in Ghana is budding hence the training is needed to equip practitioners with essential skills and ethics to drive the industry.

“The photojournalism industry here is young and is growing just as our democracy. For us, we founded this institution to build an ecosystem and build a space and build a community around it and equip photographers and journalists around it so I think in the next few years through the support of all of us it will grow much better,” he indicated.

He continued that after the workshop, he expects the participants to, “Tell stories better. I want them to see it in a different way. That is my hope.

"The objective also is that they can report ethically and have the boldness to report and know what to report based on newsworthiness and what is relevant.”

Some beneficiaries of the workshop shared how the training has been an eye-opener for them. George Koranteng Danso is a photographer and photojournalist.

He says the training sessions from the two world-renowned photographers will enable him to tell his stories in a more unique and ethical way.

“It’s going to be very beneficial to me as a photographer and photojournalist. Looking at the worth of experience these facilitators have, it’s going to be very beneficial to me and how I tell my stories, especially through photographs.

"I believe the Ghanaian story is very unique and we need ethical photographers to tell these stories,” George Koranteng Danso noted.

Norkor Nortey, another participant also said the workshop has been insightful in the areas of editing and selecting images to put together a story.

She added that she is very optimistic that her work will improve after the workshop.