Our partner in the EU Support to Jordanian Democratic Institutions and Development (EU-JDID), the Agence Française de Coopération Médias CFI in collaboration with the Jordan Media Institute (JMI) organised a training workshop for a team of field reporters, editors, and broadcasters from the Jordanian Radio and Television Corporation (JRTV). The event, held from September 6th to 8th 2020 at JMI, focused on media coverage and content development for the upcoming parliamentary elections. It was attended by 16 individuals working at JRTV.
Part 1
At the beginning of the workshop, Dr. Mustafa Hamarneh, a former member of parliament and current president of the Economic and Social Council, discussed the most pressing priorities, challenges and issues related to media coverage of the elections. Dr. Hamarneh pointed out how important it is that journalists become immersed in the various issues of their society and approach them from the perspective of political participation and the selection of the nation’s representatives in the parliament.
Part 2
The second training session was with Mr. Faisal Shboul, a member of the board of commissioners of the Independent Election Commission, who spke about the constitutional and legal frameworks, systems and guidelines that relate to the elections. He also established the timeline of the electoral process and traced its course before, during, and after election day. Shboul emphasised to the trainees that, as journalists in the field, they play a delicate role in overseeing the integrity, security and transparency of the electoral process.
Part 3
On the third training session, an advanced writing skills session was delivered, where participants were introduced to the linguistic basics using the appropriate vocabulary, proper grammar, constructing informative sentences, the basics of news writing, the five W’s and the journalistic story building.
Part 4
The second training day started with a session on advanced research skills and techniques, where participants were introduced to the research techniques, the use of online research engines and fact-checking techniques. The session ended with a team work whereby teams were asked to come up with media coverage ideas then developed into media coverage stories and presented in front of the trainers and participants where feedback on the developed content was received.
Participants also discussed the challenges they face on their daily tasks at JRTV and the limitations that prevent them from being creative in their work. The trainers discussed these challenges and limitations with the trainees and provided advice on how to tackle them and be creative field reporters.
Part 5
After the theoretical part of the first two days, the training moved to the practical part where participants started developing their stories and presenting them in front of other participants and trainers. The focus was on field reporting skills, non-verbal communication, live broadcasting, communication and live coverage, ways to deal with field challenges and the media coverage during COVID 19.
