Accuracy key to good journalism: Abu-Fadil

Posted on April 1, 2013 by magda

Getting it right topped the list of tips Media Unlimited director Magda Abu-Fadil offered journalists at Al Arabiya’s English website during an informal chat in Dubai.

Magda Abu-Fadil addresses Al Arabiya’s English website team

Abu-Fadil said elementary rules like spelling people’s names correctly and ensuring their titles were precise should not be overlooked since they were the corner stones of good reporting.

She also cautioned participants, several of whom she trained in October 2012, not to rush and publish information before verifying it from multiple sources, noting that rumors and other questionable news and visuals filled the Internet, leading to many a journalist’s downfall.

Abu-Fadil recounted some of her adventures as a foreign correspondent and editor and how she had transitioned from being a traditional journalist to a blogger and media trainer.

Abu-Fadil with Al Arabiya English website editor in chief Faisal Abbas

The event dubbed “Accuracy: How it could make us, or break us,” was part of an Al Arabiya English website General Assembly in March 2013.

UAE Foreign Aid Organizations Participate in Strat Comm Course

Posted on March 23, 2013 by magda

Some 20 participants from United Arab Emirates-funded foreign aid organizations learned how to fine-tune their communications strategies by ensuring better interaction with field workers and disseminating their news through the media.

The participants took part in a workshop on Strategic Communications conducted by Media Unlimited director Magda Abu-Fadil under the patronage of Sheikha Lubna bint Khaled Al Qassemi to help them craft their internal and external messages.

Magda Abu-Fadil (center back row) trains UAE-based foreign aid communications officials

The March 2013 training in Abu Dhabi centered on building bridges with the media, setting priorities, appreciating deadlines for various media, collecting news from the field, ethics in public relations, planted stories and conflict of interest, and, their organization’s visual identity.

Participants worked in groups to map out strategic media plans, practiced writing op-eds, and discussed how to improve coordination between their respective organizations.

Working groups map out strategic communications plans

They were advised to think like journalists, and to beef up their online presence through traditional and social media channels.

The workshop was organized by the UAE Ministry of International Cooperation and Development, the Office for the Coordination of Foreign Aid, and twofour54 Tadreeb.

Journalists Learn to Communicate Women’s Economic Empowerment

Posted on February 13, 2013 by magda

Print and online journalists attending the first in a series of Lebanon-wide workshops on women’s economic empowerment learned about gender mainstreaming in the media, promoting equality, and reviewed case studies of successful initiatives.

Beirut-based reporters and civil society representatives attended a two-day course organized by the Collective for Research and Training on Development – Action (CRTDA) that tackled issues of women in the Lebanese economy, how gender equality translates into smart economics, and, rural women’s cooperatives and their economic impact.

Trainees at CRTDA’s Beirut Workshop

The CRTDA helped set up 36 rural cooperatives in the country’s Bekaa, South and Akkar regions aimed at building women’s productive and leadership skills, facilitating their access to local and international markets and supporting participatory governance and leadership.

Media Unlimited director Magda Abu-Fadil mentored trainees on media challenges to reduce gender gaps, gender-sensitive indicators, and how to use gender-neutral language in their reporting.

A session dedicated to ethics walked them through the dos and don’ts of gender-based coverage and how to avoid reporting pitfalls.

Magda Abu-Fadil Explains Women’s Economic Empowerment

A final session by journalist Saada Allaw featured results of a media audit on coverage of women’s economic empowerment and gender equality issues.

Participants were then tasked with writing a piece for publication in their respective media, which will be reviewed and edited on a third training day weeks after the initial training.

The best coverage from workshops across the country will be awarded and will be published on CRTDA’s website.

Arab Women Beat Men on Twitter: Sayyidati

Posted on November 29, 2012 by magda

Arab women are making great strides in their use of social media, often outrunning their male counterparts on Twitter, according to studies.

The shift from traditional to digital, social and interactive media is a natural for women, notably in the Arab world where conservative societies have been slow to accept females in high visibility roles, Media Unlimited director Magda Abu-Fadil said.

“Thanks to such media, you feel women have a presence, are speaking out more, communicating more, interacting more with their societies, and perhaps with people they don’t even know, and have proved themselves,” she told Maysaa Al Amoudi on the Rotana satellite channel show “Sayyidati” (My Lady).

Women have been able to reach far wider audiences than they would through traditional media, she explained, adding that they have to develop by mastering different social media tools and platforms.