Building on an annual tradition and constant commitment to young people, The Egyptian Gazette, the oldest daily English-language newspaper in the Middle East, held its fifth annual training course attended by 48 trainees. The month-long course, which wrapped up yesterday, included lectures and practical exercises related to ‘journalism in English', delivered by senior Gazette staff. The trainees, students at various Egyptian governmental and privately-run universities, mainly from the departments of English and Mass communication, were introduced to the art of professional journalistic writing and using the correct terminology in various specialised fields. The trainees were also required to take home assignments and cover live media encounters with foreign officials and senior Gazette staff members. These encounters included a lecture given by Kaisa Heikkila, the deputy head of the Finnish diplomatic mission in Cairo, who told the trainees about her country. Following Heikkila's lecture, the trainees had a question and answer session with her, giving them a chance to exercise their journalistic and linguistic skills. The trainees also had the chance to interview Richard C. Fuller, an American entrepreneur, who is building golf courses in Egypt. After his lecture, the trainees used their skills to give Fuller an ‘ambush' interview, bombarding him with questions on a host of topics, ranging from the investment climate in Egypt to US politics and culture. They the wrote accounts about these two encounters in Arabic and English. The trainees were also addressed by senior Gazette editors Ashraf Madbouli and Debbie Smith, about e-journalism and English-language skills respectively. During the course, all the trainees used The Egyptian Gazette itself as the main course material. Supplementary material was also used throughout the course to help them improve their English writing skills, allowing the trainees to build up their own glossaries and observe the intricacies of English, particularly when translating from Arabic into English. In the concluding session, the instructor outlined the course objectives, stressing the notion of broadening and further facilitating the recruitment process, through the establishment of what is called ‘The Egyptian Gazette Friends Association'. Trainees who distinguish themselves throughout this annual course as well as in subsequent assignments will be given priority as candidates whenever the newspaper seeks to fill vacancies. They may also be recommended for work at other newspapers and media institutions at home and abroad. The Gazette will run another one-month course, starting in the second half of September. During the latest course, the instructors specified prerequisites of working at newspapers in general, and The Egyptian Gazette and similar English-language publications in particular. They laid stress on ‘excellent English and computer literacy' as the two main prerequisites, to which must be added the broadest possible base of general knowledge. At the final session of the course, which was held in Al-Gomhuria newspaper's auditorium, certificates of attendance were distributed to the trainees. The ceremony was attended by Hana Maraei, a professor of journalism at the faculty of Mass Communication at the Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA) University in the 6th of October City. Attendees of the course will be given a 50 per cent off subscription rates in The Gazette.
