How Do We Get Information about the Khartoum War?

By Yusuf Hamad

During my professional career in journalism, I had the opportunity to conduct workshops for some aspiring journalists. These workshops were related to preparing journalists to cover events in conflict areas. At that time, Khartoum was not among these conflict areas, but it is now a major conflict zone with two generals vying for power.

My task in that workshop, which took place before the outbreak of the war, was to help trainees become aware of the importance of accuracy, word choice, and appropriate expression when writing for journalism. I also aimed to engage them in a discussion about a serious journalistic issue: objective reporting.

This responsibility led me to spontaneously conduct a practical test for this purpose. The approximately twenty trainees were instructed to immediately pass on a message to their neighbor within the lecture hall. The test was simple and direct: each trainee had to convey to their neighbor just ten words. I whispered the following phrase into the ear of the first trainee: The Forces of Freedom and Change will not sign any agreement with the military.

In reality, the military component did more than just a coup; they ignited a full-blown war that no one had anticipated. Nevertheless, the accuracy of the message transfer became a significant embarrassment for the trainees. They tried to cover it up with laughter at their own expense. They laughed heartily because they failed to convey a few carefully chosen words in a limited group within a few minutes, without any significant external influence.

That laughter born out of embarrassment reassured me that the spirit of journalism had touched those trainees on that day. Because, above all, a journalist is the person who feels ashamed of themselves if they falter or fail to help people understand the reality. And of course, there is no room here for those who intentionally mislead with ill intent.