On Tuesday April 30, 2024, a delegation of student trainees from the Institute of Information and Communication Sciences and Technologies (ISTIC) led by Sita Diallo née Traoré, Doctor of Communication, visited the L’Express du Faso team. They received them from the newspaper’s publishing director, Mountamou Kani.
The trip has become almost a tradition in the sense that students from ISTIC come to visit the daily Bobolais team every year. It is a courtesy visit and at the same time a quest for knowledge in the field of journalism for these journalist apprentices. During the visit, the students asked the first manager of the newspaper several questions about the history of the newspaper, the basics of the journalism profession, and the life of news companies in Burkina Faso. In addition to this, these learners toured the editorial office and the computer room known as the editorial room to gain new knowledge. In his answers, the Publishing Director of L’Express du Faso said that the newspaper existed 26 years ago. “The newspaper has been in existence since 1998. The main office is in Bobo but we have productions all over Burkina including Ouagadougou, Banfora, Dédougou, Gaoua, etc. We chose Bobo and at first we suffered because of several problems. Today, thanks to God, we manage to continue despite the difficulties, like the other daily newspapers in the country,” he explained. To enlighten these learners, Mountamou Kani detailed the organization of the newspaper team. “Every working day, we regularly hold editorial conferences because they are dedicated to us and even as training for journalists. When we arrive in the morning, everyone takes the newspaper of the day and then comments and criticizes each other’s articles, including correcting mistakes. After that, we prepare the schedule for the next day,” he said.
After visiting the newspaper building, these immigrants did not leave empty-handed because they gained new experiences in the profession of journalism. At the end, the apprentice journalists gave a gift to the Publishing Director of L’Express du Faso who, in turn, gave them a gift.
Ben Alassane DAO
