Pinehas Nakaziko
WINDHOEK – A twenty-three-year-old journalist from a local daily newspaper, June Shimuoshili, is to take part in the International Olympics Committee (IOC) Young Reporters Programme.
The IOC Young Reporters Programme covers sports journalism training and will take place during the Youth Olympics Game in Buenos Aires, Argentina from September to October. The programme brings together 30 young reporters from five continents at the Youth Olympic Games from October 6 – 18, with the programme running from September 30 to October 19.
“With the programme I am willing to gain more knowledge about sports reporting and come share this knowledge with people back home,” says Shimuoshili. She adds that this training is not only going to benefit her, but other local youth as well. “As much as this sounds like a cliché, the future is in our hands and this platform allows me to see how the rest of the world operates in the technological era and I can bring back the knowledge gained and have an effect on these opportunities that need to be grabbed with both hands.”
Programme participants will receive intensive class and field training in writing, photography, television, radio and new media reporting on sport. The programme will include a behind-the-scenes tour of the International Broadcast Centre and meetings with Olympic Channel programmers and reporters, who will also be reporting from Buenos Aires.
According to the organisers, the integration of social media, coding and the use of algorithms will form a core component of the training, giving participants all the tools required to work in today’s evolving newsrooms.
Currently an entertainment journalist at the Namibian Sun, Shimuoshili says being exposed to other fields of journalism such as sport is good because of the knowledge gained.
“As a journalism graduate I was taught to be versatile. I didn’t study journalism to be an entertainment journalist; it’s just a beat I’m doing right now. I’m looking forward to all the skills and use that to better my journalistic skills as a whole,” she says.
Shimuoshili won Best Entertainment journalist in 2017 at the Namibia Annual Music Awards (NAMAs).