Sierra Leone has joined other countries in the world who are participating in this year’s three-week course on “The Role of Media in Democratic Countries” in Tokyo, Japan.

The training was organized by the JICA Centre in Japan and implemented by the NHK Foundation and is aimed at understanding the role of media especially that of Public Service Broadcasting from its participants as well as sharing the Japanese experience with participating countries on institutional building for functional improvement and the human resources development system of media.

In his welcome statement, Former Secretary-General, of Public Broadcasters International (PBI) and Former Director-General, of NHK World, Mr. Toshiyuki Sato explained that the objective of the course is to provide and update participants’ professional skills and knowledge on the rapidly changing landscape of media. He also gave a brief overview of how radio was an influential media and suitable for uniting nations since its invention. Broadcast service has helped evolve and flourish the development of mass society in the West he added.

He maintained that most countries have public broadcasters that are now identified as public service media adding that, this change implies that its services are not only limited to broadcasting; they have changed their policy to include new services on the Internet.