The International Islamic News Agency (IINA) launched its training course on science journalism on Tuesday with the participation of more than 20 journalists from the national news agencies, media outlets and institutions of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC). This is in the commencement of the Agency’s new training activity in various fields of editing, journalism and translation, in addition to its media coverage of the events in the Islamic countries.

Participants are attending a three-day intensive course on editing and writing scientific articles, two weeks after the convening of the First OIC Summit on Science, Technology and Innovation in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on September 10-11.

IINA Director General Issa Khaireh Robleh said, in the opening of the training course, organized by the Agency in cooperation with the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), that the Agency seeks through this course to enable participants from OIC countries to identify the problems of science, technology and society, as well as acquiring basic journalistic skills in science and technology press. He explained that IINA has launched a media training center, designed according to the latest specifications, to achieve its vision in training journalists so as to be able to highlight the issues of the Islamic world.

In a speech aired via the network, Head of the ISESCO Information and Communication Center Dr. El Mahjoub Bensaid said the scientific qualification of media professionals is one of the pillars of ISESCO’s work. He pointed out that the Organization organized many workshops in this field, the most recent of which was a regional workshop in Senegal on ways to employ African media to promote inter-cultural dialogue.

Director of the Arabic Section in the OIC Department of Information Ayman Aboushi said the training course comes in the context of the Organization’s interest in technology. He noted that in its work program for science, technology and innovation adopted at the First Islamic Summit on Science and Technology in Astana, the OIC stressed the importance of spreading scientific and technological awareness, especially in the areas of innovation, food safety, environment and health. “Here comes the role of the journalist in the transfer of science-related issues to the public in simple and direct language,” he said.

Journalists from a number of news agencies, daily newspapers, satellite channels and radio stations in OIC member states are attending the course, which is supervised by Dr. Abdessamad Moutei, expert of audiovisual media at the Higher Institute of Information and Communication of Rabat, Morocco.