By Chisomo Phiri

Journalists from different media institutions in the country especially community radio stations have been urged to accurately report weather related issues so as to avoid misleading the general public.

This was said during a one day long media training that the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services( DCCMS) organized at Amarylis Hotel in Blantyre on Thursday.

The training was aimed at equipping members of the media with skills on how best and accurately they disseminate weather related information to the general public.

In her presentation, DCCMS Director Lucy Mtilatila said members of the media should always be in forefront to make sure that weather or climate change information is accurate and not misleading or threatening people.

Said Mtilatila :“Climate change is not only about disasters. There are many benefits that we could get from it. As the media, we are in a better position to help in relaying such positive information. This gathering will help us to collaborate on this.”

She added:”We need to understand climate in order to utilize it and make sure that we are not vulnerable.

“We blame climate when we have put ourselves in vulnerable situations like settlements.”

Mtilatila said most of the disasters that come due to climate change are preventable.

“To be honest, most of the climate change disasters are preventable but it for us members of the media to them preventable as such through accurate information dissemination,” she said.

The DCCMS Director requested the media to always seek clarification whenever they are not clear on certain climate terminologies or information.

“Again as members of the media, let us provide information that will help communities to make informed decisions,” she added.

On his part, DCCMS Deputy Director Charles Vanya said there is need to continue conducting such media trainings with their department so that journalists are fully knowledgeable and able to report weather related issues without misleading the public.

Vanya added that there should be a strong relationship between journalists and the climate change department to make everything work perfectly.

He hailed journalists for their tireless efforts in disseminating crucial information about the climate change.

Vanya disclosed that currently, DCCMS is in the process of introducing ‘SMS Weather Alerts’ campaign where people will be receiving weather alerts of their particular areas from the department through their mobile phones.

The media training brought together Blantyre-based journalists from different media institutions such as Zodiak, MBC, Nation Publications Limited, MIJ FM, Ufulu FM, Capital FM, Kulinji.com, Ndirande FM, Mzati Radio, 247 Malawi News and Times Radio.