Basics

Trainings, workshops and seminars are conducted to build capacities of young journalists and journalism students.
The trainings are based on practical learning through exercises and training on the required techniques in order to acquire basic journalism skills beginning with reporting, writing good leads, breaking down the different elements of a news story in addition to the use of new media.

Peace building journalism

Through this program, MAHARAT aims to build on the experience of cooperation and coordination between all components of Lebanese civil society, and mainly the media, to contribute in strengthening the culture of peace in the country. The project is intended to provide a space for dialogue, interaction and analysis among the young journalists, regardless of gender, confession, political affiliations or social status. The project objectives are:

1. To examine language, terms and images used by the various media in Lebanon and to analyze how these promote peace and or violence.
2. To share ideas and possibilities of actions on building a culture of peace in Lebanon.
3. To document the experience and spread it to young journalists in the region.
4. To strengthen a rights-based approach investigation and reporting capacity of Lebanese young journalists, with an emphasis on young reporters.
5. To initiate a regional exchange program for young Arab journalists.

Investigative journalism

Despite the fair academic teaching level that the media students of Lebanese Universities benefit from, they unfortunately lack advanced practical training on several important areas namely, investigative journalism. This project aims at:

• Developing a module on investigative journalism to be later adopted and integrated in the existing curriculum
• Training senior year journalism students at the Faculty of Media of the Lebanese University on the principles of investigative journalism
• Providing a platform for the trained students to publish their work in investigative journalism

Methodology:

Maharat organizes specialized workshops and focus groups ran by professional journalists targeted to young journalists and journalism students to introduce them to the culture of peace and how they can contribute to spreading it through their daily work. Maharat has already produced a manual on investigative journalism which has been integrated in the Lebanese University curriculum.