OSCE Centre trains Turkmenistan’s media professionals in use of new technologies

ASHGABAT, 20 June 2014 – The use of new technologies in journalism and online journalism skills were the focus of an OSCE-organized training course that concluded in Ashgabat today.

The four-day course brought together journalists representing Turkmenistan’s print, broadcast and online media. It aimed to enhance the participants' understanding of the specifics and opportunities of journalism in the digital age and was designed to build participants’ practical skills in using new technologies in their everyday work.

International experts from Bulgaria and Ukraine presented new communications models, described journalists’ evolving roles and functions in the integrated newsroom, and highlighted professional standards in modern journalism.

“New technologies and media offer new formats and possibilities for communication and re-define the relationship between the news media and the public,” said Ambassador Ivo Petrov, Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat. The telecommunications revolution also marked fundamental changes in the journalism profession with new ways used by reporters to gather information and present news stories.”

“The OSCE Centre in Ashgabat organized this training course to support Turkmenistan’s media professionals to accomplish their important role of journalists while constantly advancing their professional skills to be able to make active use of new technologies and to work in new media.”

The course participants discussed the specifics of journalism genres in new media and the principles for selecting different media formats in their work. They also explored how to plan multimedia news stories and effectively illustrate materials in new media. Participants had the opportunity to practice their writing skills and techniques for adapting texts for online media as well as shooting and editing videos.