Twitter offers training to journalism students in UAE

Journalism and media students in the UAE can now embark on a year-long training programme with Twitter.
The Dubai Press Club (DPC) has announced a collaboration with the popular social networking site to launch the programme that will benefit journalists, media students and graduates. The first of its kind in the region, the programme, announced on Tuesday at the Arab Media Forum, is set to start in September and will be offered across the UAE, with plans to expand it to university students across the GCC region a year later.
The initiative aims to support student learning and growth in digital journalism. The programme will include training sessions in both English and Arabic on how journalists can use the various tools available on Twitter for news discovery, reporting and storytelling, to enable them to leverage the platform and report current events in the digital age. The training sessions will take place at the Dubai Press Club and is open to media and journalism students and graduates.
Announcing the programme at a Press conference, Alia Al Theeb, director of the Dubai Press Club, said: "The initiative developed in partnership with Twitter forms part of our ongoing efforts to empower journalists in the region. The programme will build students' skills and competencies so that they can develop into tomorrow's leading journalists.
"Twitter has quickly gained widespread following among the young generation as a news source, and is at the forefront of the trend for people gaining control of news consumption through social media," Al Theeb said. She further explained that social media tools like Twitter are changing the way news content is produced, distributed and consumed. The training programme seeks to enable young media professionals to stay abreast of the latest news trends and the role of social media platforms in redefining and transforming news coverage.
Kinda Ibrahim, director of media partnerships at Twitter, Mena, stated: "As a real time information network whose role is to keep people informed about the world, Twitter has proved to be an essential tool for the modern day journalist. Such a partnership will allow students in the region to gain an official training, which enables them to both source and break news through the platform. We see this as a much needed programme that will equip journalists with the right skills to progress their careers in today's new media landscape".
afkarali@khaleejtimes.com