OSCE Centre supports Internet training for Kazakh-language journalists

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 28 May 2010 - A two-day training course to help journalists working in the Kazakh language to improve their knowledge of the Internet and new media tools started today in Almaty.

Twenty-five journalists, who were selected through a competition, learned about different aspects of the Internet, including how to create blogs, set up social networks and use mobile Internet in their work. During the course, which was held in the Kazakh language, legal and media experts also provided information on the legislation governing new media in Kazakhstan.

The training course aimed to popularize new media technologies and enhance regional Kazakh-speaking jounalists' skills by teaching about various new media tools and international standards and advancements in this area.

"The importance of technology these days is difficult to overestimate, and journalists increasingly make use of interactive new media technologies to communicate with their readers. Unfortunately, such technologies are not as widely used as they could be in the Kazakh-language media. It is therefore necessary to encourage their development to contribute to the free flow of and access to information," said Ambassador Alexandre Keltchewsky, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana.

The event was organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana in co-operation with the Public Foundation "Minber", the Soros Foundation Kazakhstan and Kazakhstan's Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research.