Health journalism trainees visit Anadolu Agency

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA

A group of Turkish and foreign reporters attending Anadolu Agency's health journalism training program visited the agency's headquarters in Ankara on Thursday.

Health reporters from Albania, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Somalia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, and Turkey are taking part in the 11-day training in Ankara which takes place from Aug. 8 to Aug. 18.

The program is held by Anadolu Agency's News Academy in collaboration with Ankara-based Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Center for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), which is a subsidiary organ of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Anadolu Agency's Acting Director of Human Resources and Administrative Affairs Mucahid Muhammed Soykan briefed the trainees on the agency’s principles of journalism and future projects.

The trainees were also briefed on the agency’s international operations, war journalism training, and Istanbul Photo Awards, an annual international photography contest held by Anadolu Agency.

The health journalism training is being held by representatives from the OIC, experts on health journalism, and academics as well as Anadolu Agency's experienced journalists with a view to improving health journalism in the OIC member states.

The program plans to provide cooperation among the OIC members and establish networks between journalists. Participants will also be awarded certificates at the end of the training.

Anadolu Agency has 39 offices worldwide and produces news stories in 11 languages.

It currently posts news in Turkish, English, Arabic, French, Kurdish Kurmanchi and Sorani, BCS (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian), Russian, Albanian, Persian, and Macedonian languages.

The agency, which has over 1,500 subscribers both in Turkey and abroad, also plans to launch services in Spanish and Indonesian soon.