jordan pulse -
HRH Princess Rym Ali, founder of the Jordan Media Institute, said that the institute and its partners from international organizations have finished preparing a comprehensive guide that enables journalists to cover the news of refugees and displaced persons and convey their suffering and stories to the world while ensuring human rights and not insulting their dignity and not being biased against them.
This came during the launching ceremony of the UNESCO Training Series for Journalists, entitled "Guide to Teaching and Training in Journalism: A Report on Migrants and Refugees", on Saturday evening, at the Institute's headquarters, in partnership between the Media Institute, UNESCO and TU Dortmund University in Germany.
Her Highness expressed the Institute's gratitude to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), for this important work and endless effort to support the media around the world, and to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which devoted its time to launching this guide.
She indicated that the Institute organized in 2014 a conference on refugees in Jordan and was able to provide new information about them, as the Kingdom hosts a large number of them.
She added that the institute realized early on the importance of covering the issues of refugees and displaced persons, especially that there were reports that mistakes were committed against this group, and did not take into account the human dimension and was marred by a lack of information, and the transmission of results without evidence, and a number of them portrayed refugees as a burden, and their negative impact on the communities hosting them.
Her Highness pointed out that there are many initiatives in the region undertaken by individuals and non-governmental organizations, and they focus on refugees in the region, workshops and seminars, and there was nothing comprehensive like this guide based on research, explaining that it will be launched with a comprehensive methodology and will take into account the professional teachings of the press and media. .
She said that the use of new terms in migration and asylum is important, addressing their causes and human stories, looking behind the stories that mean this category, and climate change is important in their lives, recommending not to underestimate the humanity of these people, stressing that one of the important values of this guide is the comprehensive methodology because the refugee issue is an issue It is global, there are challenges for writers using social media tools, and we have to tell the audience differently about this category, all of which is important in raising awareness of these issues.
Her Highness pointed out that it is the constructive press that looks behind the stories and that everyone should use this type of journalism and avoid hate speech and inaccuracy and what goes with it in covering this category.
She emphasized that this guide relates to concrete actions to fill the gap and make a good contribution in this area.
For his part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, stated during the ceremony that media reports on refugees were not as important as they are today, and the inability of governments in various countries of the world caused 200 million people to leave their countries.
He said that many of these refugees did not choose to move from their country, and that they loved the lives they used to live in, and some of them moved because of bad deeds, in return, journalists should be supported in such actions.
He explained that professional reports need expertise, weight with information, use of images and awareness of trauma, and this Arabic version of the guide is for practitioners of journalists and academics and to address journalists, educators and future generations.
In turn, the UNESCO representative to Jordan, Min Jeong Kim, pointed out that she hopes that this guide will be of assistance to journalists and university and institute students in covering the news of refugees and displaced persons and reminding them of this global phenomenon, hoping that it will contribute to achieving its goals for which it was established.
She added that journalists play an important role in conveying the voices of this group and conveying their suffering and their human stories, and that this guide is what helps them in covering to maintain professional standards that control the reporting of their news.
For their part, the guide’s editorial team, composed of Susan Wengler, Monica Linguer, Fatima Louatien and Anna Zabi, spoke about its contents and sections and how it was built in cooperation with all relevant authorities.
They explained that several sessions, seminars and workshops were conducted to reach this guide, including a comprehensive methodology for all, stressing the importance of publishing a translation of the guide in Arabic as the first translation in the series, which will be translated into other languages soon.
They pointed out that the Arab region still plays a major role as countries of origin, transit and destination for migrants and refugees, indicating that they hope that the guide will support journalists in their reports on migration and forced displacement and reduce the spread of misinformation, in addition to assisting teachers and students in universities and training institutions.
The preparation of the guide took 6 years of intense scientific work by the Dortmund University research team, and more than 30 international authors contributed to the project, including Arab researchers.
A dialogue took place between the attendees, the institute's students, members of the editorial team and those responsible for the guide, its sections, and its comprehensive scientific methodology. The meeting was attended by members of the institute's board of directors and a number of officials.
(Petra)