OSCE Centre supports modernization of journalism education in Turkmenistan

On 23 September 2016, the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat organized a seminar on innovative methods of teaching journalism for 15 instructors from the International University for Humanities and Development,  Magtymguly Turkmen State University, Foreign Ministry’s Institute of International Relations and the National Institute of Sports and Tourism of the State Committee for Tourism and Sports of Turkmenistan.

“Journalism education is essential for ensuring high standards of the media and the OSCE is committed to supporting the efforts of the participating States in enhancing journalism capacity building and education,” said Natalya Drozd, Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.

“Journalism instructors are challenged to be not only highly-professional journalists and possess effective methods of teaching journalism skills, but to also have academic knowledge about the media and excellent understanding of the modern media environment. It is my belief that this seminar will facilitate the exchange of best practices in journalism teaching and will contribute to the efforts of the host government in modernizing journalism education.”

The seminar covered principles of journalists’ work and methods of teaching journalism, including home reading, business games, media projects and group work. The journalism instructors discussed the importance of the development of critical thinking when teaching internet journalism and approaches to developing modules to teach journalism and media.

The seminar is organized as part of the OSCE Centre’s project aimed to  strengthen professional capacities of journalists and media specialists.