Summer course 04 begins

Last week, ten journalists arrived at the Thomson Foundation for a five-week course aimed at giving them a grounding in multiplatform journalism.

In the first week of the annual summer course, the participants, from seven different countries, welcomed David Harrison, an experienced former Fleet Street journalist who worked with them on sharpening their core journalism skills.

Among the lessons he passed on was how journalists must keep asking questions because "people deserve to know". He also advised them that the relationship with politicians should be "close, but distant" and to report from the peoples perspective.

Berna Namata, of the East African newspaper said: "The course introduction has focused on equipping us with basic journalism skills ensuring that as journalists we produce factual and balanced work."

The sessions prompted much debate about the role journalists play in society and how far journalists should go to get a story.

Sharing experiences "We have also had interesting discussions about our work in our respective countries," says Berna. "In particular for me, it has also been interesting listening to colleagues sharing their experiences."

Kunle Falayi from Punch Nigeria said that journalists could be doing a lot more to change the world they live in. "This past week has taught me that it is truly amazing and at the same time sad that journalism has the potential to effect a lot of positive change in the world but has not been adequately been used in doing just that in some developing countries."

The first week also gave the participants an opportunity to reflect about whether their role as journalists is changing as technology advances.

Kara Fox, a freelance journalist from the USA, said that journalists had a responsibility to safeguard the standards of their industry.

"With the influx of cheap, new technology and the subsequent rise of citizen journalism, there is a general sentiment that everyone can be a journalist.' Though a wonderful step in the right direction, this inclination towards the now also comes with inaccurate reporting, biassed accounts and untrained eyes delivering news to the world.

"It is up to us as trained, seasoned journalists to keep up the standard of unbiased and accurate reporting and to equip ourselves with as much up-to-date knowledge of multimedia trends so that we can keep up with an ever-changing world."

The first week also included a visit to the headquarters of the Guardian newspaper, where the course participants were given a newsroom tour and spoke to one of the papers foreign correspondents, Luke Harding.

Power of sound The week concluded with an introduction to a new format, audio. Derek Ivens, a radio producer, focused on the power of sound and how to make simple, but high quality digital audio recordings that put the people at the heart of the story.

In week two the course moved on to focus on online journalism, led by trainer Dan Mason. The participants are learning about multimedia storytelling tools that can enhance their journalism.

For Nadine Dimassi of Al Jazeera the course has highlighted the need for journalist to be at the cutting edge of technological change. "Journalists are facing new challenges regarding their work in digital environment and the skills they have to acquire to cope with this change and be part of it."

And Berna Namata puts this even more bluntly: "The game is changing drastically and only those who are up to the challenge will survive."

LINK:	http://www.thomsonfoundation.org/news-and-features/2014/08/18/summer-c...
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