The United States Embassy in The Gambia, on Monday, organised a one-day training for over 30 Gambian journalists from both the print and electronic media including The Gambia Press Union (GPU) and Media Agenda, at the Embassy’s Conference hall, located at its offices along Kairaba Avenue.

The participants, who were drawn from various media houses such as the Daily Observer, The Point, GRTS (Radio and Television), Today newspaper, Gambia News and Report Weekly, The Gambia Daily, Foroyaa, Daily Express, GPU and Media Agenda, were trained on internet research. The presentation was done by Stephen M Mallinger, information resource officer at the embassy of the United States of America in Dakar, Senegal.

During the course of the training, the US ambassador to The Gambia, Barry L Wells, made a surprise visit to the participants. Ambassador Wells thanked the participants for honouring the invitation to this training opportunity. He advised them to take the training seriously and do their research work to enhance their capacities.

Ambassador Wells finally expressed their desire to further collaborate with the media fraternity, for more training opportunities.
At the end of the training, Mohamadou M. Njie, public diplomacy and cultural affairs assistant at the US Embassy, thanked the US Embassy for organising such an important training for Gambian journalists. He also advised the journalists to make the best use of the knowledge gained during the internet research training course.

For his part, Sheriff Barry, a reporter with the Daily Observer, said such a training will add value to his profession as a journalist. He thanked the US Embassy for capacitising Gambian journalists.

Asanatou Bojang, also a reporter with the Daily Observer, expressed delight at receiving such an important training. She expressed optimism that the training will help to improve her strength in the field of journalism. She thanked the US Embassy for the training opportunity.

Nyimasata Marong, a layout editor at the Daily Observer; Nfamara Drammeh, a photographer at the Daily Observer; Amie Sanneh, a reporter at Foroyaa newspaper; Mamadou Edrissa Njie, a reporter at Gambia News and Report Weekly; and Fatou Touray, a reporter at the Gambia Daily newspaper, who spoke on behalf of their colleagues, all expressed similar sentiments.