AJMI - Doha

Al Jazeera Media Institute, in collaboration with the Red Crescent, has concluded, under the supervision of its Al Jazeera Ambassadors initiative, a youth training program featuring three courses in story writing, mobile photography for human-interest stories, and public speaking. The program brought together 28 young participants who reflected great interest in developing their media skills.

In the story writing course for young people, participants learned about the elements of a story, building the idea, developing characters, and crafting the plot in a way that suits their age and environment. In mobile photography for human-interest stories course, they learned image composition, how to choose impactful angles, and how to use a mobile phone to create visual content that tells people’s stories, while public speaking course focused on developing self-confidence, controlling voice tone, eyes contact, and overcoming stage fright.

The training was delivered by a group of experts including, journalist Raghda Jamal who trained participants in story writing course, journalist Mohammed Shabrawi led public speaking workshop, and producer Al-Arabi Rabie conducted mobile photography for human-interest stories workshop, sharing their professional expertise and field experience with participants.

The trainees praised the new knowledge and skills they gained. Some overcame stress of addressing audience through eye-contact and vocal-expression exercises, while others improved their photography angles and their ability to capture images that reflect human dimension of a story. Seven children also succeeded in producing complete stories, from the idea to the final presentation-format.

The trainers expressed their pleasure at taking part in the program and dedicating their time to training young people. They underscored the importance of investing in their media skills as a tool for conscious and responsible self- and community expression, while boosting the presence of human-interest stories in children’s and young people’s content.