We recognise the vital role played by the media as a potential opinion former and disseminator of information. The media is also a platform for dialogue and debate, plays a significant role in influencing the worldviews of people and societies. We are keen to work with journalists as it’s important that journalists are well informed, objective, in addition to addressing some of the barriers preventing their effective reporting on society issues.

Thomson Reuters Foundation course for Journalists

With Egypt’s parliamentary and presidential elections approaching, the British Council, in partnership with Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) www.thomsonreutersfoundation.organd the Syndicate of Journalists is organising a training programme for Egyptian journalists on covering and reporting on elections (conducted in Arabic), in addition to an English language training (ELT) course following the TRF training.

The course took place at the syndicate of Journalists on 19-23 June 2011 aiming to develop the writing and reporting skills of 15 Egyptian journalists as they prepare to cover parliamentary and presidential elections in the Arab world’s most populous country. In addition to the selection of two Journalists attending a further training offered by Thomson Reuters in the UK, London from 28 November-2 December 2011.

After the course, participants will be able to:

• Write stories that are accurate, balanced, unbiased and well-sourced according to international news agency standards
• Produce analytical and well-researched Features, Political Risks and Scenario stories
• Identify the qualities and elements of investigative journalism
• Incorporate and confidently explain to readers the financial elements in a general or political news story  
• Filter and effectively use information on social media sites while maintaining international news agency standards and personal credibility
• Spot and avoid the most common forms of legal dangers

Aswat Masriya- ‘Egyptian Voices’ Egyptian Elections website launch

Aswat Masriya is an initiative of Thomson Reuters Foundation’s (TRF) journalism training and media development team, TrustMedia with additional support from the British Council, Arab Partnership Fund and U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

‘This is not only a crucial time in Egyptian history, but also an important opportunity for all Egyptian journalists and reporters’ says Hussein Abdel Fattah.

He is one of 50 journalists that Thompson Reuters Foundation in partnership with British Council Egypt are supporting through the development of the Egyptian Elections Website (Aswat Masriya) whilst also providing training and development opportunities for journalists so that they have the skills to provide web content. This will promote fair and balanced coverage enhancing political participation and creating an environment suitable for strengthening freedom of expression.

The site is an Arabic online resource, Providing information and news on parliamentary and presidential elections in Egypt aimed at better informing journalists, voters and the public at large. Also recognising the role that social media played in the revolution, the website will also have strong social media elements such as regular summaries and digests of elections related twitter and blogging trends and topics.