New Tricks Project: Re-Training for the Middle East's Established Journalists through Workshops and How-To Videos

In the rush to embrace all that is new in the Middle East in the context of digital media and the “Arab Spring,” a critical group of mid-career journalists in Tunisia has been largely left out, especially with regards to international support. The knowledge and professionalism of this group, however, has the potential to be a great resource for young media professionals, the media sector as a whole, and the Tunisian people. Thus, the New Tricks Project: Re-Training for the Middle East’s Established Journalists through Workshops and How-To Videos seeks to engage a core group of peer-to-peer change agents to promote digital journalism skills.

IREX selected Tunisia as the target country for this project given its central role in the unfolding transformation in the Middle East and its large number of established and still-functioning media institutions. Despite the long history of these outlets under the previous regime, Tunisia is rife with anxiety based on the lack of credible information. The established media is distrusted, but online and social media also are losing ground to fears of manipulation. The project will provide midcareer journalists, editors and journalism professors in Tunisia with re-training opportunities designed to inculcate digital journalism skills through specially tailored trainings that speak to their on-the-job needs and the reservations they may have about new media approaches. These new skills will allow the “old-school” of Tunisian journalism to have access to more information and a wider audience. As they absorb new digital media techniques, the trainees will simultaneously participate in production of a series of digital journalism “how-to” training videos and associated training materials and manual expressly — and appropriately — addressing their peers at home and in other Arabic-speaking countries.