By
Peter Townson
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DCMF's
Junior Reporters gained valuable experience while covering the three-day forum
in Bangkok
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Through its cartoon exhibition, side
event on women's safety in the Arab world and team of Junior Reporters, DCMF
played an important role at the recent Global Forum on Media and Gender.
Continuing its participation in high
profile international events focused on issues related to press freedom, Doha
Centre for Media Freedom (DCMF) recently sent a delegation to attend the Global
Forum on Media and Gender which was held in Bangkok between December 2 and 4.
The centre was represented by a number
of members of staff and also sponsored a team of Junior Reporters to cover the
event. The team updated a dedicated Facebook page and blog with their
daily coverage of the event, while they also live tweeted a number of the
sessions. Photographs produced by the team were used by other
institutions partnering at the event, such as the Islamic Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) and have also been utilised on
DCMF’s main website and other places online.
DCMF also hosted an exhibition of 20
cartoons on the theme of Media and Gender, which were displayed throughout the
event, bringing to life through art the highly important issues which were
being discussed over the course of the three days.
The inspirational stories of female
journalists covering issues in the region were recounted during the
DCMF-organised side event on the safety of women journalists in the Arab
world. Nazeeha Saeed, the Bahraini journalist who was tortured for her coverage
of protests in her country before being flown to France for physical and
psychological treatment, was joined by Jordanian journalist Rana Hussaini,
known for her work covering honour killings, vice-chair of the Egyptian
Journalists’ Syndicate, Abeer Saady and Al Jazeera correspondent, Jane
Arraf.
The session highlighted the bravery of
women covering dangerous topics and situations and their conviction in
addressing some of the taboos which may otherwise have prevented them from
carrying out their work.
Unforgettable experience
The team of Junior Reporters expressed
their gratitude at being able to participate in the forum, where they were also
given the opportunity to work alongside students from the Thammasat University
in Thailand.
Mariam Al-Mohannadi from Qatar
University noted: “It was the best experience of my life, and as a future media
practitioner, I loved it. I wholeheartedly encourage anyone studying or even
remotely interested in media to take up the DCMF opportunity to be a Junior
Reporter - it an experience that you cannot forget.”
Saeed Khan from Northwestern University
in Qatar stated: “It was a very informative and eye opening forum for me as I
have taken many classes in media studies and we often discuss issues facing
women in the media.”
“I had a chance to interact and network
with professional journalists, delegates and professors from all over the
world,” he said, adding “some of the most important things I learned from the
conference were about the safety of female journalists on the frontline and
what sort of experiences they have been through, the fact that female
involvement in the media creates more innovative and balanced stories and girls
who are consuming media these days are lacking good role models.”
Qatar University student, Zainah Loulou
added: “This conference impacted me highly. I have learnt to report about
sessions, I learnt to write reports on the spot instead of taking a week and I
learnt to video cover a session efficiently.”
“And most importantly the voice of
junior reporters, our voice, was heard about gender and equality through our
articles and twitter account,” she said, adding “this trip was full of
knowledge from a journalistic perspective and personal level too.”
“Invaluable experience”
Senior coordinator for DCMF’s website,
Aisha Sid Ahmed noted: “The forum provided an excellent opportunity for DCMF to
network with other press freedom organisations and spread the word about the
work that the centre is carrying out in the region and around the world.”
“It also gave the chance for our team
of Junior Reporters to gain some invaluable hands-on experience of reporting
from a major international event. The young journalists excelled
themselves and were fantastic ambassadors for the centre and for the future of
the media in Qatar.”
“Overall this was an interesting and
informative forum, and one in which DCMF played an important role,” she said,
adding “our cartoon exhibition on media and gender was well received, our panel
session on the safety of women journalists in the Arab world was one of the
most interesting events, and the centre met some valuable contacts while
helping to nurture and train future journalistic talent.”
Source: http://www.dc4mf.org
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