Fifth Round for "From the Classroom to the Newsroom"

The training program "From the Classroom to the News Room" (OHO) will be held for the fifth time this year between 9 and 16 July by the IPS Communication Foundation as part of the project "Journalism for Rights, Freedom for Journalists". Graduate students who want to work in journalism were able to apply until Tuesday (14 June).

Students who graduated this year from departments of journalism, radio and television of communication faculties in Turkey and Northern Cyprus can participate in the program. The IPS Communication Foundation is going to evaluate the applications and will then choose one graduate student from each faculty.

The program aims at acquainting the journalist candidates with the basic principles of journalism and introducing the participants to the professional environment with a focus on rights journalism. Experienced journalists and academics are going to hold sessions on "The concept of today's journalism and reporting", "Peace journalism", "Getting started with journalism", "Personal rights and responsibilities of journalists", "Rights organizations and the media", "News ethics and requirements of rights journalism" and "News photography".

Renowned journalists, academics and rights advocators will share their experiences with the future journalists and carry out workshops, namely journalists Yıldırım Türker, Zeynep Erdim, Ceyda Ulukaya, Hüseyin Özdemir, Mirgün Cabas, Jérôme Bastion, Ahmet Tulgar and Murat Çelikkan as well as academics Prof. Sevda Alankuş, Assoc. Prof. İncilay Cangöz, Assoc. Prof. Sevilay Çelenk, Prof. Yasemin İnceoğlu Assoc. Prof. Esra Arsan and Füsun Özbilgen. Furthermore, communications lawyer Fikret İlkiz and human rights defender Prof. Şebnem Korur Fincancı will participate as lecturers.

The graduate students will have the chance to meet representatives of human rights institutions and journalists' rights organizations. Visits to radio, newspaper and television news centres are part of the program as well. At the end of the program, the participants will prepare the front page of their own newspaper. Every participant will be awarded a certificate at the closure ceremony of the program.

The OHO participants are not going to miss out on a bit of fun either. They will enjoy a boat trip on the Bosporus and a party is going to be kicked off after they will have received their certificates.

Cost for travel, board and lodging of the graduate students is being covered by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency SIDA. (BA/VK)