The National Statistics Office (NSO) trained Business Journalists in Lilongwe as a way of upgrading the level of knowledge on statistics on the part of the media practitioners.
The promotion of use of data and statistics training which was funded by UNFPA was conducted also in Mzuzu and Blantyre on Tuesday.
Speaking with reporters, Director of Information Chikumbutso Mtumodzi said the training is an eye opener to the journalists who have a critical role in communicating to the masses.
He went on to say that the issue of statistics is very crucial as far as reporting in Malawi is concerned such that journalists are supposed to be equipped with knowledge to avoid misleading the audience.
He said apart from that, the media practitioners are supposed to report in the way that audience should understand more especially to those who lives in the remote areas.
“This is a way to go. Our journalists play a major role when it comes to reporting because this task is very crucial and I believe that they will learn a lot of things which will be beneficial not to them alone but the entire country,” he said.
On his part, Principal Statistician at the NSO Richard Phiri said that they are striving hard to improve their system of presenting data because most of the times journalists complain on use of technical terms which becomes difficult to understand.
On his take, Founder for Association of Business Journalists in Malawi Taonga Sabola said that the training will enable the Journalists to work with confidence because they will be reporting issues that involves data which needs reliable statistics.
National Statistics Office is responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population and society at national, regional and local levels.
