Aljazeera Media Institute - Qatar

Attending courses at Al Jazeera Media Institute helped Samer Ibrahim Al Kubaisi in developing his skills and expertise in the field of TV journalism, the art of TV dialogue, and how to deal with breaking news during newsletters.

- Tell us more about yourself:

Samer Ibrahim al-Kubaisi from Iraq, I’m a broadcaster for an Iraqi channel. I have had multiple experiences in the field of journalism and media for instance I wrote several articles on websites, I worked as a broadcaster in a number of Iraqi channels until today.

I started off as an amateur journalist and now I have more than 10 years of experience. I believe media has a noble role in conveying the truth to the recipient besides the humanitarian message in some cases, I also believe in the personal and journalistic freedoms of people.

- What are your hobbies?

My hobbies are far from the media context but in my view they help broadening my horizons, opening-up to new ideas and enriching my career. I’m very interested in developing the technical tools I work with such as graphics and montage. I’m a firm believer that a good journalist should deliver the information/news in several visual or audio ways, particularly with the technical progress made in conveying the information to the recipient through social media and other.  Furthermore I practise a lot and I like to cook as well.

- What courses did you attend?

In 2014, I attended the “TV presentation” course; it helped me to master the skills of a good control of body language in front of the camera and readiness to contingencies and at the end of the course I learned how to successfully and efficiently manage a dialogue.

This experience was significant in my career as I was allowed to exchange expertise and learn new technologies applied TV stations worldwide.

- What is your media message?

I believe everyone has the right to have a free opinion despite all differences.

- How do you see media training, is it a demand or a luxury? 

In the beginning, I thought of it as a luxury an extra activity for media personnel and journalist as well. After I finished the course, I found out that it enriched my experience and developed my skills and it opened new horizons for me from working for a local network into a wider context. I vividly recommend benefiting from the Institute courses.

- Last word?

I would have to say to my colleagues out there, that no matter how far you reached in your career and how much you achieved, there is always room for self improvement and learning new technologies, because the media and journalism field is constantly evolving.