OSCE holds seminar on modernization of journalism education in Turkmenistan

AKIPRESS.COM - Modern approaches to education on journalism were the focus of an OSCE-organized seminar which took place in Ashgabat on 13 and 14 November 2019. The two-day event brought together journalism teachers from four institutions of higher education, journalists from Turkmenistan's television, radio, print and online media outlets as well as representatives of the Ombudsperson's Office, Ministry of Education and other relevant institutions, OSCE reports.
In her opening remarks Head of Centre Natalya Drozd referred to the OSCE's commitments to promoting journalistic freedom and freedom of expression in all of its participating States and highlighted previous activities organized in the Central Asia region.
"High-quality journalistic training is as important as ever," said Drozd. "Today, teachers of journalism are faced with a task of particular importance - not only to modernize methodology and approaches to teaching practical skills for contemporary media, but also to equip them with the knowledge about the rights and duties of journalists and how to protect the freedom of the journalistic profession."
Pal Tamas from Hungary, a member of the Advisory Board of the Association of the International Media Researchers, talked about current tendencies in journalistic education, journalism skills as well as new media business models and ethical challenges.
Taras Shevchenko from Ukraine, director of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law and member of the International Association of Media Lawyers, shared best practices in the development of modules on freedom of expression and other related disciplines for journalism faculties.
The participants exchanged views on the future direction of reforms in journalism education and optimal approaches to developing the module on freedom of expression for journalism faculties, which was envisaged by the National Human Rights Action Plan of Turkmenistan for 2016-2020.