#ProjectInAction: 50 videos showing what it takes to work as a journalist in Iraq

Covering topics such as the golden rules of journalism, fact-checking and the role of the media in a democracy, 12 trainers in Iraq are working on the creation of 50 educational videos on the fundamentals of journalism. Their mission is fairly simple and entails using a simple and didactic method to provide Arabic-speaking journalism students with all the keys to succeed in journalism training or to create a report for television.

This project is taking place against the backdrop of an Iraqi media environment that is in complete turmoil. For around twenty years now, Iraq has been experiencing unprecedented development of all types of media. The Innovative Journalism in Iraq project (JOII), implemented by CFI and France Médias Monde (FMM) since May 2022, aims to enrich the current curriculum of the Faculty of Media of the University of Baghdad (FMUB), which is essentially theoretical, to adapt it to the needs of current journalism so that it becomes a benchmark, not only in Iraq, but throughout the entire region.

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50 videos covering all aspects of journalism

To ensure the dissemination of good journalism practices to students in Iraq, the project beneficiaries used a new training pathway that involved proposing two 25-episode video series on journalism.

For each series, the first 20 episodes, produced in Baghdad, cover the golden rules of journalism and TV reporting, both in theory and practice. The other five episodes focus on the advice of leading reporters from France 24, including Sofia Amara, Amar Al Hameedawi, Mayssa Awad, Tahar Hani and Tatiana Massaad.

In creating these videos, the beneficiaries of the Innovative Journalism in Iraq project have demonstrated their ambition. While both series were initially shown within the University of Baghdad and other Iraqi universities, the intention is for them now to spread and be seen by students throughout the Arab world. To that end, the Académie France Médias Monde has created a playlist on its YouTube channel, in order to make them accessible to everyone.

And the Innovative Journalism in Iraq project does not stop there. A third series of educational videos, which has already been filmed in collaboration with the local project partners – the Iraqi Media Network (IMN), the FMUB and the Académie France Médias Monde, is currently being edited and will be broadcast at the project closing event in Baghdad, scheduled for June 2024. Its core theme is digital journalism. Join us in early summer to learn all about it!

See the first 50 videos on
Académie France Médias Monde’s YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/@AcademieFMM/playlists

 

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