University of Juba Head of Communications’ Department on Wednesday told journalists to revive media coverage in local languages to cater for over 75 percent English illiterate masses of the country.
Chaplain Kara Yokoju said during the launch of mass media book in Juba that more challenges of the media industry lie in communicating to local readership in foreign language alien to the illiterate majority.
He explained that the history of media in South Sudan started with local languages’ newspapers published by missionaries and that they should be revived for wider communication to readers and speakers of native languages.
‘Mass Media in Sudan Experience of the South’ author Victor Keri Wani recommended the revival of local languages for communication.
He advised that South Sudanese intellectuals should take up the missionary work of developing vernacular including Bari, Azande, Dinka, Ma’di and Acholi for use in media.
Juba Monitor Chief Editor Alfred Taban decried lack of reading culture in South Sudan, even for newspapers with complaints of difficult wording.
He urged writers to use simple language for communication to be understood by limited readers in the country.
The editor acknowledged that writing books accounts for appreciation of individual contributions.