Amman – Jordan Media Institute
The Jordan Media Institute (JMI) has begun training the first of 40 students and 12 teachers from the King Abdullah II Schools for Excellence on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) and producing news reports on their mobile phones. JMI is holding the training sessions as part of the Voice of Youth in Media project, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Throughout the week, students and their supervising teachers from Al-Qweismeh school were introduced to the core concepts of media literacy including fact-checking and how to protect themselves on social media platforms and how to use those platforms wisely and ethically. Elisar Sanour, a seventh-grade student, said: “I’ve started to look for what is behind the news story and not just believe everything I see on my phone,” adding that she would now make sure to check the sources of information she encounters on a daily basis.
Her peer Nidal Abu Saada (13 years old) considered this training to be a “180-degree” turnaround from what he had been expecting, adding that he and his peers were able to experience media, both in front of and behind the camera and to use JMI facilities and its television and radio studios. He also said that he enjoyed the interactive style of the training.
The students learned how to produce news reports that will be broadcast on local television stations, with the training sessions covering filming, interviewing, and editing.
Abu Saada emphasized how the training helped him improve his ability to use his phone to producing stories that shed light on the issues that matter to him, stating that the experience at JMI has spurred his ambition to become a journalist in the future.
While Abdel Nasser Al-Yousef noted that he had limited knowledge of Media and Information Literacy, but now would share what he has learned with his family and friends. In addition to the skills, he gained in asking questions and putting together a news story.
Over the coming weeks, as part of the Voice of Youth in the Media project that runs until the end of next year, other groups of students will continue to train under professional instructors at JMI’s cutting-edge facilities and thereby become empowered to share their stories and voices. The participants include both male and female students from four schools in Al-Qweismeh, Amman, Madaba, and Salt. They will be joined by twelve of their teachers whose training was completed at the institute early this year.