Event Reports
The Seminar, which took place on March 3rd – 7th, 2012 at the SQU in Muscat, had been jointly organized with the SQU’s Mass Media Department and the Oman Journalists Association.
The students participated enthusiastically. As a strong focus was put on practical experience, they learned how to transform news into a story, how to investigate, how to verify their sources and how to write a balanced report. The students improved their skills by going out, interviewing people and collecting data. „We really wanted them to understand how important independent and reliable sources are for quality journalistic work”, explained Thomas Birringer, KAS-Representative to the Gulf States.
The topics covered in the course dealt mainly with campus life. They ranged from parking problems, over introducing bicycles, to cheating in exams, blind-students and student-teacher relations. At the end of the course, every participant completed an informative article in English that was of publishing quality.
"The experience with our training courses in the UAE during the last two years has shown us how effective these seminars are”, stated Thomas Birringer, KAS Regional Representative to the Gulf States. ”Journalists are an important pillar of a functioning civil society. They bear a great responsibility towards their society and need to be well educated and equipped for these tasks. With our training courses we aim to contribute to their education.”
In April 2012 the Regional Program will start its training activities also in Kuwait where it will offer a first course in cooperation with the Kuwait Journalist Association.
