Anadolu Agency’s News Academy holds forum for international journalists

By Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) - Anadolu Agency’s News Academy on Thursday organized a forum for international journalists at its headquarters in Ankara, the Turkish capital.

The War Journalism and Reporting in Crisis Zones forum was held with support of the Turkish Presidency's Communications Directorate.

**Speaking at the opening session of the forum, Anadolu Agency’s Director General Serdar Karagoz said the agency has provided war journalism training to nearly 500 participants, including many local and foreign journalists.

Over the last decade, 22 such trainings have been held by Anadolu Agency with the support of Türkiye's leading institutions such as the General Directorate of Security, Turkish Armed Forces, The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), Karagoz said.

Underlining that war correspondents should be able to withstand harsh conditions on the ground, Karagoz said: “With these trainings, we prepare reporters for all the challenges they may face on the battlefield.”

“This forum is held to re-discuss the concept of war journalism,” Karagoz added.

A total of 15 international journalists, who were trained earlier by the agency, participated at the forum. They came from Georgia, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Nigeria, Algeria, Chad, Kenya, Sarajevo and Kyrgyzstan.

The forum aims to increase the interest of international media members in Türkiye and to contribute to the promotion of the country by providing interaction between foreign and Turkish war correspondents.

As part of the forum, war correspondents will share their field experiences, exchange ideas on the difficulties of the profession, the dangers encountered on the spot and new technologies as well as rules that need to be updated.

A range of issues will discussed at the forum, including sessions on Changing Conflict Conditions and War Correspondence, War Correspondents in Türkiye and Global Communications in Wartime.

Speakers who have achieved significant success in war journalism are expected to attend the forum.

The war journalism training is provided by only a few institutions in the world and has been organized in Türkiye since 2012.