Midt i kampene i Libyen skyder nye uafhængige medier op.
Den dansk-baserede NGO, International Media Support (IMS), har en delegation i det krigshærgede land for at finde ud af, hvordan organisationen bedst muligt kan bidrage med en stærkt tiltrængt journalistisk træning.
Affter 42 years of autocratic control and suppression of the media, the ongoing turmoil in Libya is creating an acute need for support to uprising independent media in the north eastern part of the country in Benghazi, now liberated from Gadaffi’s control, informs IMS Monday.
IMS, which as the first media support organisation to visit Libya after the outbreak of the conflict, sent another team of media experts to the northeastern, liberated city of Benghazi this month (June) to explore ways of supporting new publications on the media market through training and advice on organisational, structural and sustainable set-ups of media outlets. They describe the need for journalistic training as “tremendous”, with new media outlets often run by very young people with practically no previous experience or education in journalism.
– The population in Libya is well-educated and ready for change after having lived an isolated life vis-a-vis the outside world for more than 40 years. This is one of the reasons why the potential for new and independent media is so significant, says Michael Irving Jensen, Head of IMS’ work in the Arab world.
– But the need for basic journalistic training is enormous and to build a well-functioning and thriving media sector there is a need to achieve consensus amongst local partners and to involve the best-placed international media support organisations in the build-up of the sector.
In the course of their visit to Benghazi, the IMS team met with several radio stations of which some have been provided with equipment to help them broadcast. Shabab Radio is one such station which also looked at the possibilities of setting up an independent media institute in future in close collaboration with local media partners. The aim of an independent institute would be to promote journalistic standards and ethics and carry out training on basic journalistic skills and utimately create a space in which to bring together the shattered media community in Libya.
