SEMC Trains Journalists in Hadramout on Sensitive Journalism

Studies & Economic Media Center concluded the specialized training course “Sensitive Journalism” held in Hadramout province.
Hamdi Rassam, the project officer said, “the sensitive journalism course aimed to equip Yemeni journalists with conflict-sensitive reporting skills and to familiarize them with the journalistic principles and values ​​needed for good media coverage.”
 For the first time, the participants in the course received numerous information and skills about the press coverage in conflict areas in accordance with sensitive journalism standards.
Participants described the training course as rich, fruitful, and “combining the knowledge and practice”.
“Through a rich training material and a trainer who has a wealth of practical experience, I have lived many experiences in the media work related to covering conflicts, political and social journalism... Four days full of the new and applicable,” said Abdul-Rahman bin Attiyah, a Saudi AL-Ekhbariah TV correspondent and one of the participants.
Abdulla Mossied, one of the participants added, “sensitive journalism is a totally new topic, but the trainer’s practical experience and his modern and smooth style as well as the great number of practical applications have made a positive impact on my career. In this course, we learned and practiced what we learned.”
“It was a saturated course. It removed the confusion between the concepts, answered questions above what I expected and gave me real work skills that I actually applied. The course made us know, practice and taught us how to be good journalists and how we work for peace,” said Fatima Mohammed Al-Amari.
“It is difficult to summarize what I learned in a short sentence. I learned a lot about the coverage and its arts ... in the rules of safety, in photography, in the social media, in the values ​​and ethics of journalism and in the writing and editing, etc... To sum up, I learned a lot and applied what I learned,” pointed out the participant Ahmed Saleh Bajardana.
The course's trainer, Mr. Yassin Al-Zikri praised the participants' interaction and enthusiasm in order to familiarize themselves with the sensitive journalism standards and develop their writing and technical skills. He expressed his happiness with the training result, which represented a real impact on the participating journalists’ techniques and coverage.
“The course helped me to find my way in covering conflicts. I can analyze the conflict, understand its impact and horizons and what I, as a journalist, should do toward the conflict, society and peace,” said the participating journalist Hamzah Awad Bamhafouth.
The female Journalist Ghada Ahmed Baterfi added, “I have acquired many skills and knowledge during the course ... The intensive applied process showed me the worth of each vocabulary of the sensitive journalism.”
During the training courses, the trainees underwent many practical applications and activities and continuous evaluation, which contributed, according to participants, to “transforming knowledge into behavior and practice”
“I have come to know the sensitive standards and arts of sensitive journalism, maps and conflict analysis tools and have developed my skills in many aspects including human story, news and the language of the body and photography through the trainer who introduces the article in a modern style and smooth language,” said Khalid Abu Bakr Belhadj, from Hadramout Valley and the journalist at the New Middle East website.
The female journalist Samira Yazid Badhawi pointed out that the training course caused a positive impact on her career by saying, “for me, this course represented a real turning point that will continue to accompany me in my journalistic work. Now I understand what the role of the journalist should be in covering the conflict and how to be a voice for peace.”
The famous journalist Sanad Bayashout, the editor-in-chief of Al-Mukal Today website said the course caused an observable positive impact on the trainees. “I have followed most of the courses activities and I can say that it has made a visible impact on the participants' methods and techniques,” he said, calling the participants to keep using this development in the journalistic values ​​and editorial skills.
“The sensitive journalism and its tools, the conflict and its maps and analysis tools, the work of the journalist, the importance of the team work, the skills of coverage in conflict areas, the identification of rumors and how to deal with them, all of these are some of what we learned and applied during the training course,” said the participant Niazi Anwar Abdul-Aziz, the preparator in Al-Mukal Radio. 
The course, which was held during the period 26-29 March 2017, targeted 25 male and female trainees from various the local printing, visual, audio and electronic media.
In a few days, the participants will launch a press publication of “electronic newspaper”, in which they will present some of their post-training techniques.
The course also came out with a set of journalistic principles, values and ethics signed by journalists as a code of conduct and as a work constitution in their future coverage, in addition to a number of recommendations addressed to official authorities, unions and organizations concerned with the media work. The recommendations were also addressed to the conflict parties, media outlets and their fellow journalists throughout the country.
This specialized course was designed to meet the needs of journalism and journalists in Yemen being engaged in armed conflict for two years. The sensitive journalism is one of the societies’ pressing demands, whose voice is absent when the conflict intensifies.
The news media in Yemen almost suffers a total absence of coverage techniques in the areas of conflict due to lack of rehabilitation in this field.
The Studies and Economic Media Center (SEMC) is one of the most prominent Yemeni NGOs that works on , and spreads  awareness of economic issues, in addition to buttressing good governance and public engagement in decision making, and working towards the creation of professional media