On May 28 to 30, Almaty hosted the training "Climate Change in Central Asian Countries - an Important Issue for the Media", organized under the Program for Adaptation to Climate Change and Mitigation in the Aral Sea Basin, CAMP4ASB, which is implemented by CAREC and funded by the World Bank.
The purpose of the training is to promote the professional growth of the media workers of the Central Asian countries to help them produce high-quality and interesting materials on the topic of climate change. And to ensure the full coverage of this topic in the region.Participants who passed the training were journalists and media workers from 5 countries of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The training program was based on the preliminary study of the needs of the expectations of two key groups - journalists and experts and included the possibility of their effective interaction with each other. For this purpose, format of the training was organized in such a way to hold a joint session of journalists with experts – international and Central Asian countries. The event also included the Skype session with the head of the Communications and Public Relations Section of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The studying part included practical sessions, a master class on a scientific journalism, the trainings, "Multimedia Barista" playing module and a media tour.
The training began with a joint session of journalists and representat/.ives of hydrometeorological services of Central Asian countries. Experts first discussed the situation in countries and problems related to climate change and the role of journalists in it. Then at a joint session, the participants discussed factors that contribute to or impede their effective interaction.
Experts stressed that it is important that journalists, at least at a basic level, understand the problems of climate change, take into account the positions of different parties in the process of creating materials and appreciate their opinion and time. Journalists said that they expect experts to be competent and open and willing them to talk about the problem of climate change in a simple and accessible language.
On the first day, journalists watched a film about the activities of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and on Skype asked questions from Jonathan Linn, who is the head of the communications department of this authoritative international organization, which brings together leading experts and world-class scientists.
During the training sessions, the participants analyzed such issues as a newsbreak in the sphere of environment and how to find the intersection with other relevant topics, as well as criteria for the quality of journalistic materials on climate change issues.
The first half of the second day of the training program was devoted to the study of technologies for creating multimedia content on climate change issues. The participants discussed how the choice of the topic and the existing texture influenced the choice of certain formats. Participants worked on the concepts of multimedia stories on climate change issues with an orientation to the information needs of a specific target audience - all with elements of gaming using the multimedia game "Multimedia Barista".
The training part of the program was completed by the master class "Climate Change: What will happen to journalism ", by Olga Dobrovydova, a scientific journalist, an instructor of the online course "Scientific Communication" ITMO, an expert of the "Communication Laboratory" RVC, the editor of the Variable project on climate change on Colta.ru. The master class consisted of lectures, discussions and a 30-minute workshop in the format of walking debate.
