The Doha Centre for Media Freedom (DCMF) will be marking World Press Freedom Day by holding a forum on May 1 for bloggers and cartoonists at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
Doha Centre for Media Freedom director Jan Keulen
Announcing the event, DCMF director Jan Keulen said that local blogs feature a great deal of debate and information that cannot be found in print, and the event will allow them to share their experience with students and journalists in Qatar.
The event will also feature a cartoon exhibition by world-renowned cartoonists as well as new young talent from Qatar.
Khalid Albaih, a famous Sudanese cartoonist based in Doha, will be the presenter at the event.
DCMF will also be celebrating Press Freedom Day with a programme in the Libya capital, Tripoli, on May 3.
The Tripoli event was conceived together with Al Jazeera and UN human rights agencies, and is being hosted in partnership with the Tripoli press syndicate.
Various workshops will tackle important questions that Libyan journalists are dealing with, like coverage of elections, how to apply principles of human rights in journalistic work, and also the coverage of issues involving justice in a transitional system.
Workshops will also be held on photojournalism and basic journalism skills.
Tripoli’s press syndicate will also be commemorating their fallen colleagues such as Mohamed Nabous, as well as remembering Qatari cameraman Ali Hassan al-Jaber.
DCMF will also be sponsoring workshops in Tunisia on new media and blogging, with one DCMF staff member participating on the panel. DCMF will also present their media literacy programme for children in Qatar.
A live video link between Tunis, Tripoli, Amsterdam and Washington will connect similar events all over the world.
Journalism students from Qatar will be covering the event as part of a “newsroom” experience project.
DCMF’s new of Training Programmes head Omar Makhri said that the centre will be hosting two workshops in June, and will be launching new programmes in the next year.
The new programmes will focus on training Qatari journalists, covering safety and legal protection for journalists and international quality standards, as well as the Internet, social networks, access to information and new technologies for journalists.
DCMF is currently in the process of developing partnerships with local media outlets to supporting training and other activities.