JMI – Amman
Approximately 25 youths from various governorates who have recently become interested and active in the field of journalism and media have received an intensive six-day training program at the Jordan Media Institute (JMI), relating to the tools and skills for development of media products relevant to societal issues, and which can convey people’s concerns and perspectives.
This is part of a series of training programs implemented by JMI with the local community and which is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The program targets a new generation of young journalists, including recent media graduates and those who have been working in the field for less than five years. The goal is to enhance their belief in freedom of opinion and expression.
The specialist media trainers presented numerous interactive exercises to uncover the tendencies of the trainees while consolidating the value of freedom of expression as a basic right journalists should work to preserve, in a responsible manner serving society and respecting the dignity of its members.
Further, Dr. Hadeel Abdel Aziz, the Executive Director of the Justice Center for Legal Aid and member of the Board of Trustees at the National Center for Human Rights, encouraged the young reporters to engage in rights-based issues of concern to the community and defend their rights. “The hope lies within you, as young journalists, to protect our rights with the tools you possess, convey our voice and follow up on people’s concerns,” Abdel Aziz stated, emphasizing the importance of empowering reporters to be cognizant of details surrounding the justice system and people’s access to their rights, in order to analyze what goes on behind the scenes and thus fulfill their journalistic objective.
The Deputy Head of Mission at the Norwegian Embassy, Ms. Rita Sandberg, met with the trainees and explored the expectations they had upon applying to the training, along with the skills acquired throughout the intense training sessions on tools of modern journalism and its respect for human rights. Sandberg praised the effective partnership with JMI to support press freedoms in Jordan.
In working groups, the trainees presented a number of projects for covering local issues, utilizing the resources provided by JMI. These projects revolve around human rights and dignity, and the right to criticize. The trainees seek to implement these projects more extensively in the future, as trainee Musa Aldardasawi stated: “I came from Aqaba in a wheelchair, to attain the tools and skills needed to highlight the concerns of my community.”
Trainee Rozana Alkhawaldeh said that the title of the training course on journalists’ skills which bolster freedom of the press and expression, attracted her to further investigate legislations and the spirit of the law which align with her interest as a reporter in the post-graduation phase, pointing out that “during the course, I practiced how to understand the limitations of the legislations in a simpler way.” Her colleagues, Mohannad Jweilis and Sara Alqaddoumi agreed, stating “Our strength lies in knowing what works with us and what works against us. This will make us more focused on the tools with which we can follow society’s issues.”
The JMI team of academics and reporters trained the youth on advancing their capability to deal with legal materials that relate to their work as journalists, such as the penal laws, the press and publications law, the cyber-crime law and others.
Trainees Sara Abu Alfool and Khaled Alda’ejeh pointed out to the practical standpoint of the training. They stressed the significance of focal points they practiced during the course while learning how to produce high-quality content on their smartphones. They added that exposing the facts for society in this manner was necessary, especially in light of “fake news” prevalent these days.
Within the same context, the trainees learned how to analyze and interact with the filming team, in the control rooms of TV studios at JMI, to properly produce the “live-image”. The trainees also learned how to compare and contrast between the realistic description of the status quo of the news and the predetermined impressions published by social media users, thus engaging in significant media literacy concepts.