By Bassam Sebti

Cairo Today, a program that airs on Orbit satellite channel, has recently featured the citizen journalism program that ICFJ has been running in Cairo in a special TV report.

The report discussed the program’s goals and objectives, in which citizen and professional journalists have been receiving quality journalism training by ICFJ’s trainers.

“We are all journalists,” Hanazada Fikry, the country program director in Egypt, was quoted saying. “This means whoever has a mobile phone or a small camera and interested in sharing their opinion is a citizen journalist.”

The report was filmed during an Iftar gathering that was organized by ICFJ in Cairo where program trainees gathered to celebrate breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Citizen journalist and program trainee Al Husseini Mohammad said, “People told me that what you have been trained on is exactly what is being taught in journalism schools for four years.”

As part of the training, citizen journalists were paired with professional journalists who acted as their mentors.

Professional journalist Waleed Rashad who works for Orbit was among the mentors. According to Rashad, his news organization “benefited a lot.” “You rarely find a project in which all participants agree that they all benefited from it, whether they are organizers, trainers, trainees, professional or citizen journalists,” he added.