ANKARA
Anadolu Agency staff on Friday gathered at its headquarters to mark the joint ceremony held for the graduates of the fourth war journalism and English energy journalism certificate programs.
The ceremony, attended by Anadolu Agency Director General and Board Chairman Kemal Ozturk, opened with a video which reflected the plight and special moments of the trainees during their two-week training.
Ozturk opened his speech by congratulating the graduates and said this training was a requisite for each person covering stories in conflict regions.
The program conducted by the agency’s news academy in cooperation with the Turkish Police Academy, included personal security; the laws of war; first aid; advanced driving; water survival; dealing with explosives; chemical and biological attacks and hostage-taking. The trainees also learned natural disaster survival techniques from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).
The Anadolu Agency News Academy aims to provide a world standard certification program. The War Journalism program lasted for 11 days and included 82 hours of training, 42 of which are practical lessons.
Ozturk also urged and invited other Turkish media outlets to send their workers to the agency's war journalism program to receive training.
He also said the agency is becoming more global and added Tunisian journalists will receive journalism training at Anadolu Agency's Istanbul office in October.
Ogun Yildiz, the eldest trainee of the program, said they had the chance of reviving their previous experience during the training, adding "It is now time to apply what we have learnt in the field."
Gizem Adal, another trainee attending from France, said the experience of journalism is not enough for our occupation and attached importance to having such training which will make her ready in a crisis situation.
"We have experienced hard training, and survival while covering stories in conflict regions is vital for us," said Adal.
The academy, which was established as part of AA's centennial vision for the year 2020, has been holding seminars and certificate programs over two and a half years, training a new generation of journalists with its agency journalism, energy reporting and war correspondence training programs, among others.
Professor Yilmaz Colak, the president of the Police Academy, also attended the certificate ceremony and expressed his pleasure at being part of this journalism program and hopes to continue contributing to the academy's training in the future.
Ozturk later conferred internationally recognized certificates to the first three successful graduates of war journalism and energy journalism programs and wished success in their working life.
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