Qatar News Agency (QNA) wrapped up a five-day training course entitled 'Media Sustainability', organised in co-operation with the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, as part of a series of training courses and workshops organized by the agency with the aim of training national media cadres and raising competencies in specialised media and journalistic fields.
The course, which saw the participation of 22 journalists -- 20 from QNA and two from Saudi News Agency (SPA) -- came in implementation of the recommendations of the 22nd meeting of the heads of news agencies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in August 2023 to strengthen the ties between news agencies in the GCC countries, and also the proposal of the GCC General Secretariat regarding on-the-job training.
Held at QNA Training Halls, the course covers sustainable media development strategies in the media and sustainability in the news industry -- two axes that educate trainees about the relationship between sustainability and the media, international experiences in media sustainability, the relationship between journalism and sustainability, ways to detect false news stories and sustainable skills of journalistic techniques.
The training course included theoretical and practical aspects with the aim of enabling participants to develop their journalistic skills and abilities, and keep pace with developments in the field of the news industry, especially since sustainable media development requires strengthening the journalists culture to be able to keep pace with news in the digital age in light of the rapid change in news collection and dissemination mechanisms.
According to the training programme, at the conclusion of the course, the trainees were assigned to prepare projects, which are an "integrated media project" on media sustainability in the field of news and media, to measure the extent of benefit from it.
The first part of the course, related to sustainable development strategies in the field of media, was presented by media expert and consultant Khaled al-Qudah, while the second part, on sustainability in the field of news, was presented by media expert and journalist Othman al-Mukhtar.
The trainees praised the course's programme and topics, and the extensive discussions they included, which confirmed their maximum benefit from everything that was presented, and the vital information materials they received related to the course's title.
They also hailed QNA's great keenness on organizing such specialized media courses for the benefit of its staff and other media professionals in Qatar as well as in the GCC countries.
Editorial Director at SPA, and one of the trainees Ibrahim Nasser al-Mujahdi said that the course was of great importance for the trainees in their field of specialisation, and has provided very important information that the participants would benefit from in their field of work.
In remarks to QNA, al-Mujahdi said that among the vital topics discussed in the training were the media reporting, emphasis on sources, the importance of news sources, diversity in vocabulary and different media methods, as well as the importance of strengthening relationships to obtain information from the correct news sources. He praised the efforts and keenness of Qatar News Agency on holding such training courses at a high level of organization for objectives with great media depth, which confirms the extent of the extensive media experience that QNA enjoys in various media fields.
Cooperation between Qatar News Agency (QNA) and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in organizing and holding such training courses comes within the framework of QNA's plan to strengthen partnerships with local, regional and international training institutions and centers, in accordance with its directions to become a house of expertise for qualifying and developing national cadres and building their capabilities in the media field.
