Media Outreach Training

During the Partners in Humanity launch meeting in July 2003, directors of interfaith and Muslim-Western dialogue centers complained about the polarizing effects of the media. Media professionals who were present reasoned that this was the result of under-represented perspectives due to the inability of these individuals and organizations to engage the media effectively.

As a result, Partners in Humanity worked with the Institute for Interfaith Dialogue in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies in Beirut, and SFCG's own offices in these regions, to develop and deliver media outreach trainings workshops, customized to meet the unique requirements of peace-builders.

These initial workshops, hosted in May and June 2006 in Jakarta, Indonesia and Beirut, Lebanon respectively, were designed to:

• Build the skills of dialogue activists in the Middle East and Southeast Asia in public relations and mass communication;
• Provide practice and guidelines in effective, action-oriented writing and radio and TV-interviewing skills;
• Develop the participants' skills in cultivating close working relationships with their local media and with local representatives of regional and international media;
• Increase the number of dialogue projects and initiatives that are accompanied by media strategies, and, thereby, the number of such projects covered by the media; and
• Increase the presence of indigenous voices of reason and pluralism in media concerned with Muslim-Western relations.

Media Outreach Training Manuals
Partners in Humanity has developed a media outreach guide for dialogue and reconciliation activists. It was designed to accompany and complement our training workshops and can be used as a resource for all peace-builders who are trying to increase their breadth and scope through the media. The guide is available in English, Arabic, and Indonesian.

• Download the guide in Arabic [pdf]
• Download the guide in English [pdf]
• Download the guide in Indonesian [pdf]

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