Dates: 8-18 December 2013
Country: Algeria
Chareddine Berriah, a regional correspondent for El-Watan, a prominent Algerian newspaper, says that he has benefited from the Media Diversity Institute (MDI) training workshop so much that he will change the way he is writing his reports.
“From now on I will be telling stories through people by using clear, concrete language”, said Chareddine at the end of an MDI workshop on reporting diversity and using multimedia platforms organised in partnership with El-Watan.
El Watan’s regional correspondent was amongst the journalists who were given two days’ intensive training, including sessions with a “diversity panel”, representing various minority groups, before being despatched for a further two days with assistance from the trainers to find and write a feature about a marginalised or minority group facing discrimination in Algeria, and then returning to the classroom to review and assess the stories that had been produced.
Chareddine Berriah built his story around a Malian who had spent 10 years in Algeria but was still eking out a tough living doing odd jobs because the government refused to grant him legal status which would allow him to work and pay tax.
Chareddine’s finely observed and moving story was one of many produced by the participants of the training held in December 2013.
Others wrote stories about cancer sufferers and the lack of basic care provided for them, the neglect of Algeria’s orphans, a mother’s campaign to help child victims of sexual abuse, and how traditional fishermen’s livelihood is threatened by modern techniques.
The features written during the MDI workshop were discussed, assessed and edited, to prepare them for publication in El-Watan, one of the leading newspapers in French in Algeria.
The workshop in Algiers is part of MDI’s project “Inclusive Media for an Inclusive Society: Building the presence of youth and marginalised voices in Algeria” supported by the UK FCO’s Arab Partnership Fund.