The Camp for Media Innovations has not only given journalists from print and online media outlets of the Kyrgyz Republic an opportunity to raise their professional skills, but has also granted a chance to participate in the contest for a potentially best multimedia project. 

From July 24 to July 29, 2013, 19 journalists had a chance to attend an intensive training course that focused on teaching for contemporary methods of constructing multimedia mosaic, photo, video and infographic elements, designing multimedia scenarios, constructing basic websites and promoting content online. Participants learned media management techniques and practiced in writing unbiased articles for multi-ethnic audiences.

Classes were carried out in a very interactive mode. The theory was immediately applied into practice. During sessions, the participants learned creating websites, online databases and check-lists. They practiced posting interactive photos on their websites and bring visual elements together into a single multimedia history.

“I particularly want to highlight journalists’ genuine interest to study new media instruments, - says the trainer from Moscow Oksana Silantieva, - We managed to learn six highly difficult multimedia services in one day and the group kept this wild rhythm during this whole time! I was extremely impressed!”

The trainer from Almaty Gulim Amirkhanova taught the Camp participants for key techniques of social network marketing and media planning.

“Before this training I had no idea that our website has actually these many drawbacks, - says Mirbek Asanaliev, the editor-in-chief of the information portal ‘Jumgal KG’.– Now, thanks to the Camp for Media Innovations, I am ready to work upon them”.

During the last day of training, the journalists wrote applications, where they proposed interesting multimedia ideas for social projects and technical modernization of their editors offices.     

After three-hour discussion, an independent selection board composed of external media experts selected seven winners and handed certificates for technical assistance.

The following media outlets proposed best project ideas:

“Aymak” from Jalal-Abad (“Project on Improving Interethnic Relations”),

“Miner’s Path” («Путьшахтера») from Sulukta city (“Developing Information Awareness of the Local Population via Different Means of Communication”),

“Financier” («Финансист») from Bishkek city (“Widening Access to Economic Information through Creating Interactive Online Platform”),

“SuLei-Info” from Isfana in the Leilek region of Batken oblast (“Solving Social Problems of the Local Population through Distribution of Information and Integration”),

“Danek” from Osh city (“Training Young Multimedia Journalists and Promoting Content”),

Website “Jumgal KG” («Жумгал KG») from Chayek village of the Naryn oblast (“Tackling Hunger for Information Problem in the Region”),

Information Agency “AKIpress-Osh” (Youth Media Initiatives for Helping the Population).

During August all the winners will receive requested equipment (computers, smartphones, dictaphones) and will have their expenses covered for the Internet connection, hosting and web-design.

“Victory (in the contest) has given me confidence, but it is also a huge responsibility”, - says the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Miner’s Path” («Шахтержолу») from Sulukta in the Batken oblast Gulmira Abdunazarova. Her project was immediately selected in a solid vote. “Now we are ready to work through the new strategy for our next steps”, - she adds.  

Another winner – the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “SuLei-Info” from Isfana, Abdillabek Avazov – says it was during the training that he thought of the idea to create an interactive information platform, where social problems of the local population can be solved jointly with local authorities. “Every time I think of the opportunities that we are being granted, I get emotional. I am really happy!” – exclaims Avazov. 

On the 24 of July 2013 Camp for Media Innovations of School of Peacemaking and Media Technologies starts off. 19 journalists from print media and online  of the Kyrgyz Republic, who have been selected to participate in the Camp, will study contemporary methods of creating and distributing information, promoting content online, techniques of media management and writing objective articles for multi-ethnic audience.

During six upcoming days, professional foreign trainers from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan will teach the participants for the best ways of creating scenarios for multimedia publications, working with online texts, producing digital photo and video-recording from mobile phones, working with mobile applications, building inforgraphics and creating online versions of newspapers.  

A separate session will be devoted to learning from the experiences of foreign online sources and getting the idea of how print media can profit from the use of multimedia. The trainings will be held in an interactive format, combining theory with practice.    

“The world is becoming all about multimedia, while news is more and more mobile. Over half of print media in the Kyrgyz Republic, however, do not have online content and are falling off the current media development trend”, - says the Director of School of Peacemaking and Media Technologies, Inga Sikorskaya. “We want to help Kyrgyzstani media going up on a new level of producing contemporary content and becoming competitive in the media market. This will surely give more opportunities for the audience as well to receive quality information”, - she says.

Technical assistance will help applying the knowledge in practice. It will be later played off at the “Ideas Parade” competition during the last day of the Camp.   

As a result of the contest, seven most competitive applications will be selected by a qualified panel. The media outlets, who win the competition, will receive specialized technical equipment, which is necessary for multimedia content production. 

First of July 2013 was the deadline for submission of documents for Camp for Media Innovations. The call for applications, which was met with keen interest in all the regions of Kyrgyzstan, has raised 29 application packages. As a result of competitive selection stage, 19 winners have been identified. Each of them will represent home editorial office during a six-day-training taking place in Bishkek on July 24-29, 2013.  

The finalists are expected to attend a multi-level training, where they will be introduced to a variety of interactive technologies, infographics, media management and the ways of promoting print content online. Additionally, they will undergo a course on ethnicity journalism and will participate in a competition-structured game “Parade of Ideas”, which will conclude with a project writing activity. The participants will apply for technical assistance that will be used to modernize the work of their editorial offices. A competent and independent commission composed of media experts will review the applications and select six-seven best candidates to receive the equipment requested.            

The trainers at the Camp will be internationally approved media experts from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. 

The School of Peacemaking and Media Technology of the Public Foundation «Network of Social Mediators» has started off a new training project aimed at teaching journalists for multimedia content production and a transition of them to a media convergence format. The project is financed through the Media Support Program of Soros Foundation – Kyrgyzstan and the National Endowment for Democracy.   

At the initial stage of the project, the project staff will assess current conditions and needs of the print media officially registered in the Kyrgyz Republic, and of the online sources. A group of journalists will then be selected on a competitive basis to participate at the Camp for Media Innovations.  

At the second stage, 20 finalists of the selection process will attend our multi-level training. They will be introduced to a variety of interactive technologies, infographics, media management and the ways of promoting print content online. Additionally, they will undergo a course on ethnicity journalism and will participate in a competition-structured game “Parade of Ideas”, which will conclude with a project writing activity. The participants will apply for technical assistance that will be used to modernize the work of their editorial offices. A competent and independent commission composed of media experts will review the applications and select six-seven best candidates to receive the equipment requested.            

The trainers at the Camp will be internationally approved media experts from Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The project results, feedback and success stories, as well as the analysis of the updated media content will be posted on the website of the School of Peacemaking and Media Technologies (www.ca-mediators.net), and onwww.soros.kg. Information will also be widely distributed via social networks and email newsletters.    

As a result of the objectives above, local media are expected to increase journalistic standards, methods and technical base of distributing information and to learn producing a quality media product. Such developments will attract more attention of the audience and in the long-run improve the level of information awareness among the citizens of Kyrgyzstan.   

School of Peacemaking and Media Technologies on the basis of the “Network of Social Mediators” Public Foundation is happy to announce a competition for the new Camp for Media Innovations among the officially registered print media and online media outlets of the Kyrgyz Republic.  

The project is financed by the Media Support Program of Soros Foundation – Kyrgyzstan and the National Endowment for Democracy and aims at strengthening overall potential of the local media by teaching for contemporary tools of creating content and technical modernization. During six days 20 selected participants will undergo the training on creating and distributing multimedia content, promoting the product online and writing unbiased articles for a poly-ethnic audience and media management. They will also be given an opportunity to participate in the competition for technical assistance, which is necessary for the effective work of their editorial offices.

The training will be conducted by media experts from Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The location is Bishkek, date – July, 23-30 of 2013. All expenses will be covered by the party organizing the event. To participate, it will be necessary to send an up-to-date CV/Resume, motivation letter and the filled outapplication form to the emailaddress peacemakingschool@gmail.com.The application form can be downloaded from our websitewww.ca-mediators.net [section titled “Camp for Media Innovations”] or requested through our email.

Documents will be accepted both in Russian and Kyrgyz. Deadline for applications is July 1, 2013 not later than 18:00 pm. Only full package of documentation will be considered eligible.

Training on peacemaking journalism, techniques of conflict reporting and the destruction of stereotypes was held on April 14-15-16-17, 2013 for reporters of online and print media from Osh, Jalalabad and Batken oblasts of Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek. The aim was to train participants to media tools on reducing the charge to a confrontational society, techniques of confrontation to the destabilizing information coming from outside, the organization of post-conflict rehabilitation of the journalists, finding joint mechanisms to improve the efficiency of peacemaking media efforts. “I gained a lot of useful knowledge during the training. Now I know how to cover conflicts properly not pumping the situation,” training participant Ibraghim Azimzhanov, a correspondent for "Osh Shamy” newspaper, said.

There are a lot of problems that may be solved by covering them in local media outlets. This training has taught journalists from southern Kyrgyzstan to report on conflicts properly and efficiently use media tools to reduce confrontation, Azimzhanov says. The training was held in the form of interactive discussion. Reporters learned from the theory of reporting on conflicts and consolidated their knowledge by participating in an interactive game, prepared by experienced trainers Arif Aliyev (Azerbaijan) and Ashot Melikyan (Armenia). A number of presentations demonstrating how innocent jokes, recorded on video and publicized on You Tube, can cause conflict and how it can be avoided, were shown to training participants. Special attention was paid to the toolkit for journalists on covering conflicts and ethnic diversity; providing materials with voices of children and women in media.In joint with the trainers, journalists have developed a Glossary of Stereotypes, which is a handbook for journalists working in conflict areas, and organized an improvised press conference, during which the representatives of the different ethnic communities exchanged views on the post-conflict situation in the south, trying to avoid stereotypes and clichés.At the end of the training, a film "Indivisible Island” on the ethnic problem in Cyprus was shown to the participants. The reporters discussed the issues raised in the film, and developed a scenario of conflict resolution. According to trainer of the project Ashot Melikyan, journalists from different media, living in conflict-pron areas must learn to trust each other, to understand that the problem of the Osh conflict of 2010 still lives in Kyrgyz society, and there are issues that needed to be discussed."Journalists will sooner or later have to cover this issue in media outlets, that is why techniques  of overcoming stereotypes and clichés need to be  learned right  now",  Melikyan concluded. 

 Today, the School of Peacemaking and Media Technologies has been trained about 80 journalists from media outlets in southern Kyrgyzstan. The training was conducted by specially developed techniques, which are based on practical experience of building media dialogue in conflict-prone areas of the world: the Balkans and the Caucasus. Within the School webinars on destroying stereotypes, clichés, and overcoming the image of the enemy in mass media are conducted.

More than 25 reporters working in the media of Osh, Jalalabad and Batken have applied for the training. Despite the fact that according to the requirements of the contest only journalists from online and print media should apply for the training, the competition commission also received requests from local TV and radio reporters.

The main criteria of selection are work in local print or online media (information and analytical content), availability of publications in Kyrgyz and / or Uzbek, Russian languages, professional work experience, understanding of the standards of international journalism, which is important as far as the training course is based on these standards.

Due to the large number of the interested candidates, the competition was held in two stages.

During the first round of the competent committee of professional trainers of the project reviewed the resumes and cover letters from the applicants, where the motivation and possible impact of participation in the training on the applicants’ future career was expressed. As a result of this tour, the most suitable candidates were selected.

In the second round, the applicants were asked to complete an application in which examples of their publications in print and online media, as well as reflection on their knowledge of journalistic standards should be provided.

Following the second round the group consisting of 12 professional journalists was formed. The group will pass special training of the School on April 14-17, 2013.

To date, about 80 journalists from southern Kyrgyzstan were trained at the workshops conducted by School of Peacemaking and Media Technology. The training is conducted by specially developed techniques, based on practical experience of construction of media dialogue in conflict-prone areas of the world: in the Balkans and the Caucasus. The School also organizes webinars to destroy stereotypes, clichés, and overcome the enemy image in the media. 

School of Peacemaking and Media Technology announces a call for participation in training seminars for journalists from Kyrgyz-, Uzbek- and Russian-language print and online outlets in southern Kyrgyzstan.

The training is organized to promote peace-building in the media, the ability of journalists to discuss openly issues of conflict, training of finding the common ground between the opposite sides of the conflict, and techniques of finding active groups from different communities who are ready for dialogue, analysis of existing patterns of conflicts and methods of their destruction.

The four-day training seminar for journalists in southern Kyrgyzstan is led by an experienced team of media experts with extensive practical experience in building a media dialogue in conflict areas of the world: in the Balkans and the southern Caucasus.

The event will be held in the form of interactive discussion, the combination of theory and practice.

Language of the training seminar is Russian, but for better acquiring of the material at the seminar, simultaneous translation will be organized in the national language.

The training will be held in Bishkek, date on 14, 15, 16, April 17 (arrival on April 13, exit on 18 April) 2013. All expenses are paid by the organizers.

To participate in the seminar, it is necessary to fill out an electronic form on the site www.ca-mediators.net or to send your resume and motivational letter by April 1, 2013. In motivational letter you should indicate why you would like to participate in this training, and how it will affect the future of your career. Also, e-mail to thepeacemakingschool@gmail.com a scanned copy of your passport.

The bids are considered only if there is a complete set.