bianet at Media Forum in France

The 9^th International Forum for Informing Citizens (FORIIC) held in the French city of Nice during the past weekend (27/28 March) was attended by thousands of high school students and dozens of journalists and experts.

The Nice-Sophia-Antipolis University, the Risso College and the CFA School hosted 120 workshops and 25 conferences.

Journalists from Greece, Italy, Turkey and Israel, correspondents in France and journalists from abroad working in the field of the French media talked about the impact of their work on public opinion.

Subject of the lesson: press freedom and the view on news

Groups from high schools in Nice, Le Var and nearby cities attended the Forum to learn basics about the media. The students asked the invited journalists about the difference between news and commentary and about the media's impact on the public's perception of news.

In a workshop held on "Press Freedom" with more than 200 students from five different schools, bianet freedom of expression editor Erol Önderoğlu furthermore gave information about the basic concepts of media together with his colleagues Gideon Kouts, Honorary President of the French Foreign Journalists Association, and Effy Tselikas, working for Libération newspaper in Greece and the Marianne magazine.

Students prepared cover page

The students in the workshop were allocated to five different groups according to the continents' names (Europe, Latin America, Africa etc.). Within their groups the students were asked to put headlines from the Turkish national news and from local press in Nice into order of priority related to the interests of the readers on each continent.

Both students and instructors expressed their surprise after the workshop that the Turkish agenda is that closely connected to Europe. (EÖ/VK)