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25 Mar 2014
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A workshop titled “Covering Human Rights Issues Using Data Journalism” was organized at the Jordan Media Institute as part of the project “Expanding Public Dialogue on Human Rights Issues” , which is implemented in cooperation with “Journalists for Human Rights” (JHR), Canada’s leading media development organization.<br />
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The workshop aims to introduce the participants to the importance and power of data journalism, as well as developing their skills in writing stories revolving around human rights issues using data journalism.<br />
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Data journalism represents the ability to understand, analyze and convert digital data (numbers) into visible forms of information to achieve effective communication with the reader or viewer. It is considered one of the clearest and truest kinds of journalism, as it deals with the data available to the members of the public, who do not have enough time to perform the analysis.<br />
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The 4-day workshop targeted 14 journalists from printed press and electronic websites. It also engaged a number of trainers including lecturer Ayman Salah from Cairo University, Faculty of Mass Communication; lawyer Saddam Abu Azzam; Ms. Lina Ejeilat, faculty member at JMI and co-founder and Editor of 7iber.com website in addition to trainer Thamer Awaysheh, a specialist in the field of linking information technology with media, as well as Mr. Ramy Kandil, Public Relations Executive for the MENA region at Google.<br />
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The workshop sessions covered several topics including media techniques in covering human rights issues, skills of collecting and analyzing data and statistics and finding news story ideas by using numbers. The participants also discussed the use of some tools and techniques, such as inforgraphics, to visually display a story, in addition to using free websites to simplify the story, and make it more attractive to the recipient (reader).<br />
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“Data journalism goes beyond the use of traditional journalism tools to include social media and electronic websites. It basically translates numbers into information to attract the user, and uses a variety of tools to convey the message and show the truth that is originally built on numbers”, said Mr. Ayman Salah. “A smart journalist is the one who can convert numbers into useful information that is easy to digest”, he added.<br />
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Participant Nof Al Wirr from Ammoun news website thanked JMI for organizing this workshop, and urged the Institute to organize more workshops with such a high quality. <br />
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On the other hand, the Jordan Media Institute announced the start of the admission process for the Master’s programme in Journalism and New Media for the academic year 2014-2015. The admission process ends on July 6<sup>th</sup> 2014. For more information, please visit JMI’s website <a href="http://www.jmi.edu.jo/">www.jmi.edu.jo</a> or call +962 6 5713304/06