‘Media institute working to nurture new generation of professional Jordanian, Arab journalists’

AMMAN — Every day, the Jordan Media Institute (JMI) organises brainstorming sessions for its students to discuss what is going on locally, regionally and internationally, the institution’s dean, Basim Tweissi, said.

“The purpose of these sessions is to teach students about politics. A student without political background cannot become a journalist,” Tweissi told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

Noting that the JMI has graduated six classes since its establishment in 2006, he added that “all the institute’s graduates are working in the media sector in Jordan, the Arab world and abroad”.

As a journalism graduate from New York’s Columbia University with professional experience in the field, HRH Princess Rym Ali established the JMI with a vision centred on teaching professional journalism and preparing a generation of media practitioners in the Arab region, the dean noted.

“The vision was also based on establishing a centre of excellence in journalism education that seeks to address the weaknesses in the profession in Jordan and the Arab world,” he added.

Tweissi explained that the JMI’s vision was translated into programmes and curricula different from those applied and taught at other institutions. “Priority is given to practice over theory at the JMI, which keeps its students updated on the latest technologies used in the field.”

“When I was appointed here, I focused on engaging students with their political surroundings. At the JMI, we also work on cultivating students’ journalism skills like curiosity, boldness and quest for distinction,” Tweissi added.

“We always tell our students that it is the field that makes a good journalist and never the office.”  

In order to engage students with local and regional hot topics and enable them to come up with newsworthy materials, Tweissi said the JMI is sending them to refugee camps, the border with Syria, poverty pockets and underprivileged areas. 

“Almost each week at the institute, we organise workshops and receive experts and established journalist — mostly from abroad — to talk about their experiences,” he elaborated.

In addition to sending JMI students on media tours and to workshops outside Jordan, Tweissi said the institute is linked with fellowship programmes with Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, CNN, AFP and Sky News. 

“Under these fellowships, our students spend a three-month training course. Most of them are selected by the international news channels to work with them,” he added.

“According to figures released in February 2015, 94 per cent of our graduates are working now. It is the highest percentage of employed graduates in Jordan. Seventy-one per cent of them work at professional media institutions and the rest in public relations.”

Tweissi also explained that the training centre at the JMI has been improved during the past three years to “become now the largest of its kind in the Arab region”. 

“The institute has so far trained 600 journalists from Jordan and the world. Last year, we focused on data journalism and we were the first to introduce it in the Kingdom”.

Tweissi added that “Akeed” is the most important project launched by the JMI and is considered “the first specialised, institutionalised fact-checking centre in the Arab world”.

Launched a year and a half ago, Akeed is an online portal dedicated to monitoring the credibility of Jordanian media.

The website is part of the King Abdullah II Fund for Development’s Democratic Empowerment Programme (Demoqrati) and has adopted a series of criteria to verify news published by local media outlets.

“Thrill is not Akeed’s quest. It is working silently and prudently not to judge media outlets’ coverage but to improve it. Protecting citizens’ right to authentic information is Akeed’s main objective,” Tweissi said.