ASHGABAT, 23 November 2012 – An OSCE-organized training course on launching a website and online newsroom management concluded in Ashgabat today.

The five-day course brought together about twenty journalists from national print and broadcast media, online newspaper Turkmenistan: The Golden Age and Turkmen state news agency Türkmen Döwlet Habarlary.

“The OSCE’s 14th Central Asia Media Conference, held in Ashgabat in July 2012, highlighted the role of online media in promoting diversity and pluralism. As a follow-up to the conference, the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat organized this course to assist Turkmenistan in launching new online media and promote online journalism,” said Ambassador Ivo Petrov, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.

Oleg Khomenok and Yevhen Hlibovytsky, media trainers from Ukraine, presented new communication models, and discussed website design and layout and the use of content managements systems. Participants reviewed the functions and roles of reporters in the integrated newsroom, new media journalism genres and multimedia production. Practical exercises helped participants build online writing and multimedia skills.

“Modern journalists have to adjust not only to new technology, but also to the new philosophy necessitated by technology,” said Hlibovytsky.

Khomenok added: “The training course will pass on the skills to operate in today's online media environment.”

The event is organized as part of the Centre’s extra budgetary project that is fully funded by the Government of Germany.