After a month in the field in Nepal, Bangladesh and different European countries working on individual projects, the students returned for a five day online editing workshop led by Munem Wasif.
Munem Wasif from his intro lecture on editing principles.
The editing process was a part of the International Storytelling project 2022 for the 6 students from photo.circle in Kathmandu, 6 students from Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Dhaka and 9 students from OsloMet.
The week consisted of lectures on the editing process and different editing exercises. The participants edited and gave feedback to each other in groups.
Berlin-based Barbara Stauss, a photo director and founding member of Mare magazine, gave a lecture on editing work in editorial spaces.
Katrin Koenning showing images from her own exhibitions.
Katrin Koenning gave an engaging and personal artist talk where she shared and explained the various processes of editing in books and exhibitions.
The main questions for the students’ individual editing were:
· What is the story all about?
· Does the edit reflect the idea behind the story?
· Does the edit have enough visual variety or is it repetitive?
· Do you develop any logic for editing it?
Students and teachers meeting online for the workshop.
The five day workshop ended Friday April 1 with a an online presentation session, where each of the students had to critique another student’s work.
The OsloMet alumni, journalist Afshin Ismaeli was awarded Picture of the Year 2021.*
Photograph: Afshin Ismaeli.
The winning images shows Taliban-commander Amir Mohammed Mohammed trying a rowing machine inside the Norwegian Embassy in Kabul after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
The third year photojournalism student Rodrigo Freitas received a 3rd prize in the domestic documentary category for his reportage about ocean plastic waste.
Photograph: Rodrigo Freitas.
His fellow student Hanna Johre was awarded best short video documentary for her story about the conflict between a sámi reindeer owner and the wind turbine power plant developers.
Department of Communication & Digital Media at An-Najah National University (NNU) concluded the five day workshop The Rig on press freedom in the Arab world Thursday 6 January 2022.
The students with their certificates.
The workshop was organized in cooperation between NNU and OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University. The implementation was supervised by the teachers Farid Abudheir, Dalal Radwan, Ibrahim Okkeh, and Ayman Al-Masry.
42 students from the Department of Communication & Digital Media and the Department of Radio & TV participated in the workshop. This workshop comes within the framework of cooperation between the two universities in the field of media and communication, which dates back to 1999.
Students with some of their teachers.
The workshop aims, according to the workshop coordinator, Farid Abudheir, to raise the level of knowledge and awareness of media students about the concept of press freedom and its reality in the world in general, and in the Arab world in particular, where students work over five days to research issues of violations against media and journalists in various Arab countries. Abudheir adds that the workshop also aims to strengthen the concepts of media ethics among the journalism students, the most important of which are: Obtaining firsthand information from sources, verifying the validity of information, in addition to making balance in building news stories, as well as using data journalism tools in searching for information, filtering and using it in media materials in the framework of credibility, accuracy and fairness.
Students waiting in the sun.
This workshop is distinguished in its topic and implementation mechanism. The Rig on press freedom was invented by Professor Elisabeth Frey from OsloMet, who participated in implementing it at NNU in 2017 and 2019, while she was unable to participate in the workshop this year with her colleague Mathias Falch due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The distinction of this training workshop lies in the fact that it is based on mechanisms of taking students from theoretical academic education to practice outside the class, transferring the student from the limited local field to the wide global arena, as well as moving the student to the digital space and employing modern techniques in building the journalistic story.
At the closing session of the workshop, Farid Abudheir, thanked everybody at NNU and OsloMet contributing to the success of the workshop. He also thanked Ruben André Johansen, Second Secretary at the Representative Office of Norway to the Palestinian Authority, for attending the ceremony and participating in honouring the students.
Students presenting their work.
Ruben André Johansen said that the declining state of press freedom in the world requires strong, principled and experienced journalists. He added that the independent press is one of the most important elements in a democratic society, which is why Norway supports projects that focus on press freedom, including the Rig on press freedom workshop at NNU. He thanked the organizers of the workshop for inviting him to attend the closing session of the workshop, and congratulated the teachers, professors and students on the successful completion of the workshop.
Mr. Raed Al-Dabai, the NNU President’s Assistant, emphasized that freedom is a great value, and that media freedom is an essential component of the values for development and progress, and that NNU appreciates the idea of the project and the value it defends, which is the freedom of the press. Al-Dubai thanked the partners in Norway and OsloMet University for their efforts in making these projects a success, looking forward to more cooperation and achievements in the coming days.
Roaa Al-Khuffash, who spoke on behalf of the students, expressed her and her colleagues’ happiness with the Rig and its successful completion. Al-Khuffash added that the value of the Rig lies in taking student away from the usual stereotypical style of teaching, since it broadens the students’ perceptions of press freedom in the Arab world, integrating students in media field work, and makes the student bear the responsibility of the information s/he transmits in his reports.
Israa Subuh with Ruben André Johansen, Second Secretary at the Representative Office of Norway to the Palestinian Authority.
It is noteworthy that the presentations of the students’ achievements before the concluding paragraph included a brief by each student’s about the story he/she worked on during the Rig, its importance, the methods he/she used in building the story, and the challenges he/she faced. This was followed by an evaluation; a discussion of the students’ performance.
Certificates issued by OsloMet and NNU were distributed to the participating students. The final outcome of the Rig will be the publication of all stories in a newspaper soon after the Rig.
Journalism students used digital tools to collaborate during the annual Rig on press freedom.
The Rig on press freedom is held at OsloMet every spring. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s project had to be arranged digitally, as the university was closed and the students were spread all over Norway.
