Tag Archives: Social Media

KUNA Journalists Learn How to Become Foreign Correspondents

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Six Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) journalists were plunged into an intensive workshop on how to become foreign correspondents, including risks involved, news priorities, the organization and management of foreign bureaus, and how to tie their overseas coverage to local events.

KUNA's future foreign correspondents

Media Unlimited director Magda Abu-Fadil conducted the five-day course in October 2012 at KUNA headquarters in Kuwait during which participants also learned about the importance of being multimedia reporters able to handle photography and video journalism.

Not to be overlooked are social media that should be incorporated into the mix, Abu-Fadil told her charges, to secure greater audience engagement.

Magda Abu-Fadil with KUNA trainees in Kuwait

The reporters were also briefed on how to build their list of foreign contacts, databases, equipment needed for assignments, communication gear, sources, safety measures during crises and attempts to censor them by foreign governments.

They learned the key to a smooth operation is good coordination between the correspondents and bureaus, and, the newsroom.

MU Empowers UAE WAM Journalists With New Skills

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Media Unlimited director Magda Abu-Fadil spent two weeks in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, respectively, with journalists of the United Arab Emirates’ WAM news agency to help them upgrade their skills

The training included best practices for news agencies, the integration of social media and the importance of media ethics.

The first week of workshops in September 2012 was at WAM headquarters and involved morning sessions with one group from the Arabic desk, with mentoring in the afternoon inside the newsrooms of the Arabic and English desks.

WAM workshop opening in Abu Dhabi with U.S. Ambassador Michael Corbin

The second week grouped journalists from the other emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Al Ain, Ajman, Fujairah and Um Al Qaiwain.

The U.S. Embassy in the UAE and the Emirates’ National Media Council (NMC) organized the workshops which were opened in Abu Dhabi by Ambassador Michael Corbin and NMC Director General Ibrahim Al Abed.

Media Unlimited Trains Gulf Journalists on Crises/Conflicts Coverage

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Crises and conflicts – a topic all journalists should learn to cover since they inevitably encounter them in their work at some point.

Media Unlimited conducted a five-day workshop grouping reporters and editors from Kuwait and Oman on how to write about prickly issues such as sectarian strife; economic, political and social crises; and, unexpected events.

Participants from the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) and Oman News Agency (ONA) learned from case studies, viewed videos of unfolding crises, and wrote news and features on related topics.

KUNA business reporter Suleiman Rida writes on Kuwaiti finance minister’s resignation

They also acquired skills on the importance of integrating social media in their stories and using them as sources of information.

KUNA journalists watch video on covering demonstrations

Other topics included the need for online research, reliance on archives, establishing an extensive network of good sources and learning how to deal with them in a crisis.

ONA’s Taleb Al Riyami and Abdallah Alhajri tackle the link between poor education and unemployment in the Gulf

Equally important was focusing on how to operate in a hostile environment, accidents and shocks that adversely affect journalists, and coverage of traumatized victims of conflicts.

Media Unlimited director Magda Abu-Fadil flanked by trainees in Kuwait

The participants also learned about proper coordination between editors and field reporters, newsroom dynamics, ethics while on crisis assignments, and how best to write and edit content for different multimedia platforms.

The workshop May 26-31, 2012 was held at the headquarters of the Kuwait News Agency.

MU Speaks Out on Need for Better Journalism Teaching/Training at Dubai’s 11th Arab Media Forum

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Media Unlimited director Magda Abu-Fadil told participants at an Arab Media Forum (AMF) 2012 workshop that academics must get up to speed and not deride the importance of social media.

Some panelists and members of the audience said online media users could not be described as journalists since they don’t have the requisite academic and professional qualifications.

Magda Abu-Fadil (second from right) during AMF2012 workshop on instinctive online journalists (Courtesy of DPC)

But, Abu-Fadil argued, many Arab journalism schools lacked resources and because of their poor curricula were turning out functional illiterates by not providing students with the knowledge base and skills for today’s exploding media market.

Additionally, faculty members were often below par and incapable of keeping up with the times, hence their aversion to digital advances, social media, and inability to incorporate them in their programs.

Media Unlimited featured at Arab Media Forum 2012 in Dubai (Courtesy of DPC)

The workshop — which preceded the two-day event’s official opening — focused on whether social and online media users had become journalists by instinct.

Talk show host Zeina Yazigi (Twitter @zyazigi) of Dubai TV interviewed Abu-Fadil on her show “Al Shari’ Al Arabi” (The Arab Street) to discuss the impact of online and social media on Arabs in the wake of revolutions gripping the region and whether citizen journalists posed serious competition to traditional media.

Read details of the 11th Arab Media Forum organized by the Dubai Press Club May 8-9, 2012.