The RTI Club members thought that they should use their free time in the summer vacation in a beneficial way, so they believed that a course would be suitable. And they came up with the subject of media.
The course started on Wednesday, July 7, and lasted for one week. 25 teenagers from Bethlehem area, including the RTI Club members, participated in the course which contained both theoretical and practical training to educate them in the media field.
Day One
Mr. Mohammad started the lecture by giving a brief introduction about the history of cameras and their development; he explained the camera’s main parts and their duty, and how to use the camera in a simple way.
Then, he talked about journalism in general, and the essential elements in the work team, and he opened the door for the participants to ask different questions.
Later on, Mohammad divided the participants into four groups containing the five main people which are; the producer, the director, the cameraman, the soundman and the reporter, and asked each group to go out to the street and make a one minute reportage talking about a specific subject. After the participants finished recording, the made a news report about it explaining what they filmed and what subject they talked about.
Day Two
Mr. Fadi talked about the difference between radio and television stations, the broadcasting process, and the reporter’s qualifications in both stations.
He gave the participants little training to practice being a reporter. He opened a big discussion about journalism from different doors. And gave the chance for all the participants to ask any question and wonders they had in mind and want to find it an answer.
Then, he talked about the news, and how we construct the sentence of the news in a suitable way, he taught them the elements of news, and taught them how to read as a journalist weather it was on radio or television stations. After that, he let them create their news’ sentence including certain information, and read it in such a good way.
Mr. Awni gave a lecture about a very necessary theme in journalism which is the journalistic safety. He talked about how important and significant it is for all the journalists in the world especially during war times as we have here as Palestinian journalists. He explained to the participants some laws that the journalists should know in practicing their job to protect them. Moreover, he talked about the things that a journalist should avoid in his work to be safe and secure especially on the ground.
Day Three
Mr. Naser talked in his 2 hours lecture about a variety of things concerning different issues around the world. And he related most of the things he talked about to the multimedia. Furthermore, he talked about the Palestinian local media and journalism, and its development through the last ten years and the evolution that took place in the world in general.
Mr. Awni made a small oral quiz for the participants to see if they understood the taken material and if they have any questions about it, and anything they wanted an answer for. Then, he made an evaluation to the last three days, and the results were very positive and motivating. After that, he divided the participants into four groups of five to six people, to participate in the practical part on Monday after the week end.
Practical
The practical part was a community service program for the participants in a local T.V station (Bethlehem TV) and another radio station (Bethlehem 2000). For the remaining three days the four groups went to Bethlehem TV and Radio Bethlehem 2000 to learn more about the media work and gain experience in the practical aspects of the field.
Marian:
In general, the media course was good, especially the lectures but the practical part was not that good. I gained general information about the media; I liked most the first workshop when we were divided into groups and went out to the street trying to film different things to make a report. But the practical part was not very good, we went to the television and the radio to see how they work, what they do, but unfortunately they didn’t give us much information about their mechanism and techniques. But over all, it was good.
Paticipant Impressions
Ranine:
A week in Journalism seems a nice idea so I went there to know some issues about this field… the first day was nice we did not stay in the same place, we went out to tape some views in order to make a report it was fun. The second day, I did not like it because I noticed that the lecturer did not prepare anything to give us, he wanted us to ask our questionnaires to answer them. I felt it was just yakking and passing time and it was really tough. However, my day in the radio was good, I passed a good and beneficial time… there were some negative points, for example, when we went to the radio, an employee asked my colleague to give definitions for journalism and media but she was not able to answer him and he laughed and said that giving the definitions comes in the first place before any other activities. So I felt embarrassed that day even though the question was not asked to me.