World Journalism Institute Holds First Workshop in Africa

Jonathan Gandari (Zimbabwe) interviews Shirley Asiedu-Addo (Ghana) for a reporting assignment. Photo by Drew Belz.

NEW YORK, New York -- Eighteen African Christian journalists have gathered in Uganda, for the first World Journalism Institute workshop for Christian journalists on African soil, held January 15-27, 2012. 

 The journalists, chosen by the World Journalism Institute, are participating in the two-week workshop, held on the campus of the African Bible University outside of Kampala.

Mindy Belz, editor of WORLD magazine and distinguished foreign correspondent, is the lead instructor for the conference. Nat Belz, creative director of Trak magazine, is teaching a Christian worldview component, and Drew Belz, co-founder of Fancy Rhino, is leading videography instruction.

Robert Case, director of the World Journalism Institute, said, "This workshop is the latest phase of our effort to keep up with God as he moves across the planet in his worldwide revival. We are blessed to be able to offer our African colleagues the expertise of the unique Belz family to improve their reporting and writing skills."

During the workshop, the journalists are reporting for the WJI Times Observer, the online magazine of the institute. Afterwards, they will return to their respective countries, and continue to report for their own publications. Some may be asked to write for WORLD magazine.

More than fifty African journalists applied to attend the workshop, representing Egypt, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

The workshop is part of the Belz International Media Program, named after the pioneering journalist and publisher Joel Belz, founder of WORLD magazine and past president of the Evangelical Press Association.

The World Journalism Institute exists to recruit, equip, place and encourage Christians in the newsrooms of America first and then the world. The institute sponsors weekend conferences around the United States and a multi-week journalism course in New York City. It also prints a series of monographs dealing with the intersection of Christianity and journalism.