Anadolu’s training program for Algerian journalists ends

By Mehmet Sah Yilmaz

In collaboration with Türkiye’s Communications Directorate and the country’s global news agency Anadolu, a three-day journalism training program for Algerian journalists ended in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Thursday.

Fifteen Algerian journalists participated in the training program, which came to an end with the certificate program held at Anadolu’s headquarters in Türkiye's capital Ankara.

The certificate program was attended by Turkish Ambassador to Algeria Muhammet Mucahit Kucukyilmaz, Anadolu’s Deputy Director-General Oguz Enis Peru, Undersecretary of the Algerian Embassy in Ankara Faisal Allek, and Head of the Public Diplomacy Department of the Presidential Communications Directorate Oguz Guner along with Anadolu Academy Director Zeynep Bayramoglu Ozturk.

Recalling that Anadolu was founded in 1920 under the leadership of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Türkiye, to announce the just struggle of Anatolia to the world, Peru said: “Today, our agency, which is 104 years old, is not only a firm that produces news, but has also undertaken the mission of an academy and a school in many fields from social responsibility to culture and arts.”

He stated that the agency has continued this mission with the training programs organized by the Anadolu Academy since 2012.

Peru stressed that 1,583 journalists, including 1,413 from the agency and 170 from outside, received training on different subjects as part of the training programs organized by the academy in 2023.

He emphasized that Anadolu operates in 137 countries with 39 offices and broadcasting centers, has subscribers from 76 different countries, publishes in 13 different languages and produced a total of 2.1 million content pieces in 2023.

Speaking about the War Journalism Training provided by the academy since 2012, Peru said that the “War Journalism Certificate” has international validity and invited the participants to the training program.

He noted that Algerian journalists gained significant experience in the three-day Journalism Interaction Program and that 27 Algerian journalists had previously participated in the energy reporting, war reporting and disaster reporting programs offered by the Academy.

Separately, Kucukyilmaz, the Turkish ambassador, thanked Anadolu and the Communications Directorate for organizing the event.

Pointing out that the peoples of Algeria and Türkiye are brothers and sisters, but there has been a “lost time” in their relations as states, he said that efforts should be made to make up for this lost time.

“This event is one of the signs of this effort because we need to understand one another’s positions, attitudes and problems,” he said.

The ambassador recalled that he had conducted a study on “foreign journalism” in the Turkish press with Anadolu reporter Hakan Copur in 2010. “While conducting that study, I realized that as of 2010, we had not yet built our concepts in Türkiye, as the Turkish press.”

“We were fed by Western agencies. We were looking at the Muslim world, especially the Arab world, the Middle East and Africa, through Western translated concepts, and this had turned into an element that damaged our ties with our historical, religious and cultural brothers and sisters,” Kucukyilmaz said.

“In the small modest work we did that day, I see that many of the problems we saw have now disappeared in Türkiye,” he added.

Pointing out that the agencies that send correspondents to various parts of the world are Western and they possess a significant amount of capital, he said that these agencies develop a media language consistent with their own ideological and political priorities.

After the training provided by experts on Data Visualization, Confirmation Journalism, Visual Competence, Social Media, Cyber Security, Crisis Management and Strategic Communication, the participants received certificates.

*Writing by Merve Berker