OSCE trains staff of Turkmenistan’s TV channels in skills to cover environmental issues
An OSCE-organized training course on the production of TV programmes covering environmental issues took place from 10 to 13 October 2023 in Ashgabat.
The four-day course brought together editors and camera operators from Turkmenistan’s TV channels as well as journalism instructors from three universities and aimed to enhance their professional skills and capacity to report on environmental issues.
The event started with a presentation highlighting the topicality of environmental issues and importance of their media coverage. International experts from Kazakhstan and Moldova introduced participants to environmental journalism and emphasized the essential role of contacts with representatives of the expert community when preparing news reports on environmental issues.
“Regarding environmental progress as essential for regional stability, the OSCE attaches special significance to raising environmental awareness, and to promoting public participation in environmental decision-making,” said John MacGregor, Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.
“It is our belief that this training course will not only support the enhancement of professional skills of TV journalists, but will also contribute to the efforts of Turkmenistan aimed at raising public awareness about environmental issues and implementing relevant OSCE commitments.”
The experts talked about producing as the basis of modern TV and presented types of TV content, in particular, news and thematic content. Participants looked into the process of producing TV content, including pre-production, production and post-production, and discussed interaction between correspondents and camera operators throughout three stages of the process.
The agenda of the training course featured a field practical exercise, during which participants visited the city of Arkadag and prepared short video news reports on the introduction of environmentally friendly technologies in Turkmenistan’s first “smart city”.