ALF Media Mentoring for Tomorrow’s Leaders

An EMMN team provided understanding and appreciation of media at a New Leaders seminar in Malta

In a packed week of investigation, discussion and debate, 20 young people from countries on both sides of the Mediterranean had intensive training in government, diplomacy and collaboration across borders. EMMN spent a day with them helping their understanding and appreciation of the media.

A panel of seasoned media professionals selected by the EuroMed Media Network travelled to Malta as part of a week of intensive training for participants from the Young Mediterranean Voices programme. The aim was to bring the journalists face-to-face with a segment of the population rapidly losing interest in mainstream media and challenge their preconceptions.

EMMN Founder Gary Horsley discusses media issues with (L to R): Paul Gillespie (Irish Times), Shahira Amin (freelance, Egypt), Stephen Cole (ex Sky/Al Jazeera English), Naomi Goldsmith (ex BBC, media trainer), Saad Hattar (Arab Reporters for Investigative

The panel explained why quality mainstream media, with their insistence on independence and impartiality, still have a valuable role to play in holding the powerful to account and ensuring democratic functioning through rigorous reporting. They also spent time working with the participants on topics they had selected for news coverage, finding ways to shape their stories so that they appealed both to the specific needs of the different media and to their various audiences.

At the end of the day, the journalists set the participants the challenge of supporting quality, independent journalism as they developed their professional lives, pointing out that anyone who thinks professional media have a role to play in tomorrow’s world needs to help make sure they are still around to do it.

See the EMMN report on the seminar here.