Using Information Technology to Foster Independent Media
DISTANCE LEARNING FOR JOURNALISTS
Internews Russia provides distance learning for journalists. |
Since traveling for training is often difficult for Russian media professionals, due to the expense and the difficulty of replacing absent employees, Internews Russia instituted a Distance Learning Program in 2005. The program incorporates up-to-date technology to provide participating journalists with both theoretical training and practical skills in television production. Courses range from basic editing to documentary filmmaking.
In Ukraine, the Internews-supported Kyiv Media Law Institute initiated Ukraine’s first Internet media law course last year to address a lack of legal knowledge among journalists. Students used a distance learning program to study issues such as freedom of speech, access to information, copyright protection, defamation, protection of journalists’ sources, and public service broadcasting.
THE NEWS FACTORY
INTERNEWS KAZAKHSTAN
In Kazakhstan, News Factory software helps
fill a news vacuum. |
Software developed by Internews Russia allows TV and radio newsrooms to function more effi-ciently by streamlining the scripting, editing and taping processes, allowing news departments to move to a live news format. This software, called News Factory, then establishes a text archive of all news produced.
Internews Russia also developed and implemented News Exchange, a software application that allows for the online exchange of information in text format among member stations.
In Kazakhstan, the media economy is highly politicized and independent media lack the enormous resources available to government- and oligarch-financed competitors. Regional outlets have little access to quality information, especially from other regions.
Internews Kazakhstan turned to the News Factory software to address this information void and to give small regional broadcasters an opportunity to exchange information and improve the quality of their programming.
News Factory and News Exchange to establish the Virtual News Agency, which provides daily independent news online to TV and radio stations across Ukraine. The Virtual News Agency now covers two-thirds of Ukraine.
BILL LYONS PHOTOGRAPHY
Recognizing that the Internet offers greater
editorial freedom and the ability to publish breaking news, most
leading independent newspapers in the Middle East have launched
web editions. Internews has trained reporters and editors in online
journalism. |
ONLINE JOURNALISM TRAINING
An Internews workshop and conference on online journalism in Tunis provided a rare opportunity for Tunisian journalists to express their opinions and concerns regarding the state of media in their country. Internews has also held online journalism workshops covering web design and Internet skills for journalists in Morocco, Algeria, Russia and Kyrgyzstan.
THE “WATCHDOG OF DEMOCRACY”
Natalia Ligacheva is founder and chief editor of Telekritika, a web site that provides in-depth analysis and critical assessment of Ukrainian TV and radio content.
“There’s a real interest in the problems of mass media and media’s connection to politics,” says Ligacheva, adding, “A discussion of these problems is critical to the democratic development of media.”
Funded by grants from the US Embassy and USAID administered by Internews, Telekritika is pioneering media criticism in Ukraine.
“We see our mission as strengthening professional journalism in Ukraine by stimulating politicians, authorities, media owners, and journalists to realize the important public role of the media as the ‘watchdog of democracy,’” says Ligacheva.