With the generous support of The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) held a series of workshops for Arab journalists in Amman, Beirut, Damascus and Doha. Participants included Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian journalists. The programs were part of an effort to raise professional media standards in the region. Two workshops focused on advanced journalism techniques, applying them to business, financial and economic reporting; others have concentrated on political and elections coverage.

As one Syrian participant wrote: “As a journalist working with Syrian media where there are a lot of restrictions and a lack of training, this workshop has given me a unique opportunity that I would not have otherwise gotten in Syria. Many thanks to you.” Another participant from the Beirut workshop wrote, “As a first-time participant in a workshop, I was shocked and surprised at the amount of information I got from it. I had thought that the workshop would be a waste of time, but it was the exact opposite.”

Through the end of April, 2005, 143 Arab journalists participated in the exercises, some of which featured talks with economic experts from the UN and the World Bank. Based on information provided, participants wrote stories that were critiqued by trainers for content and journalistic skill.

The final workshop in the series was held exclusively for broadcast journalists at Al Jazeera’s training facility in Qatar. The Jordanian, Palestinian and Syrian participants focused on documentary production.

Knight International Press Fellow Carolyn Robinson, as administrator for ICFJ’s Middle East activities, oversaw the workshop series.