| Wednesday, April 25
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Adequate Training to Create World-Class Professionals |
at the Arab Media Forum 2007 urged the setting up of institutions to adequately train journalists as professionals of international standards.
The session entitled "Ranking Training and Education in the Rung of Priorities" was moderated by Itidal Mujbary, Media Specialist from Tunisia on the concluding day of the forum.
Mohammad Yousef, Chairman of UAE Journalists' Association, said: "The training centres and programmes in the region do not focus on media personnel. While technology and information sectors are fast developing, journalists hardly have any recourse to training on the use of technology.
"When a petroleum company provides training to its inductees, why can't media institutions offer similar training to their staff before assigning them field reporting tasks?" Yousef asked.
He pointed out that education itself is not enough to produce a professional journalist. "This part of the world poses a unique problem. Although journalism is taught in English, the graduate gets to work in an Arab media institution, leading to complex communication barriers."
Shishir Joshi, Executive Director of India's TV Today Group, raised the issue of ethics and mid-term training, and said competition is driving media ethics down.
"In India, there are 60,000 registered newspapers. In the past one year alone, 2,000 more have been registered. There are 35 24-hour News TV channels and more are coming on line as we speak," said Joshi, while providing examples of unethical practices that have crept into journalism.
"Most large institutions in India have set up their own training institutes for entry level journalists. What we need is mid-career training. But owners are not willing to share the cost," he added, while offering placement training opportunities in India for journalists from the Gulf.
Elaborating on ethics, Jim Laurie, Media Consultant to the University of Hong Kong, said the problem of ethics was not limited to India. “Sensational celebrity-oriented TV is forced on journalists by managements in the 500-odd channel network in the US too.
"Qualification alone does not make a good journalist. It is essential for journalists to be as accountable as managers and owners of media organisation. Ethics and standards need to be part of the training. Apart from journalists, mid-career training should also be provided to media managers and owners.”
Abdallah Schleifer, founder of Adham Center for Television, American University of Cairo, agreed ethics are essential in journalism and should form part of the practical training.
"Conflict is not always apparent in global and regional or cultural reporting. A journalist anywhere has to be accurate and descriptive, without making anyone look good or bad. It is not expected of journalists to be experts in every field. However, it is critical for them to possess one area of specialty," Schleifer added.
The Arab Media Forum 2007 was attended by over 600 regional and international delegates, including editors-in-chief of major print and the broadcast media, as well as leading journalists, columnists, academics, analysts, commentators and senior government officials.Labels: career training |
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@ 10:33 PM
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