ANTARA journalists join multimedia training in Netherlands

Antara News, Wed, June 22 2011

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A number of ANTARA journalists will attend a multimedia journalism training in the Netherlands under the StuNed scholarship provided by the Nuffic-Neso and the Dutch government.

To mark the beginning of the training program, Indonesian Nuffice-Neso scholarship coordinator Indy Hartono handed the scholarships to the ANTARA CEO Ahmad Mukhlis Yusuf here in Jakarta, Wednesday.

The training is scheduled to be held on June 27 - July 15, 2011 at the Radio Netherlands Training Center (RNTC), Hilversum, the Netherlands, aimed to increase ANTARA journalists` professional skills.

In the training, the participants would also have the chance to visit the Netherlands news agency Algemeen Nederlands Persbureu (ANP).

"RNTC is a training facility designed for journalists, the fourth opportunity for Indonesian journalists to participate in the event at RNTC with different topics according to the necessary needs," Indy said in her opening remarks.

Indy also said that StuNed supports journalists` capacity building to promote democracy.

"By studying at RNTC, the participants would not only learn theory but also to practice with proper equipment," Indy said.

The 16 participants in the three weeks training from from ANTARA News Agency are active journalists and one manager of ANTARA Journalism School (LPJA).

Besides the Jakarta based ANTARA journalists, there are also several those from bureaus attending this training such as from Pontianak, Makassar and Denpasar.

Upon their return from the Netherlands, they are expected to apply what they have gained there to develop antaranews.comportal, including the enrichment of content and sections within it.

In the long run, the knowledge gained will be disseminated through training courses organized by LPJA, particularly in the multimedia journalism field.

On that occasion, ANTARA CEO Ahmad Mukhlis Yusuf welcomed the training as an endeavor to strengthen ANTARA as a multimedia news agency.

"Besides the training, it is also expected to reinforce the mindset that is needed to manage the current media, supported by the latest IT infrastructure, the discipline of media players, and network expanding" he said.

With the LPJA manager attending the training, it is also expected that the training methodology can be an additional reference for the management of multimedia journalism education in ANTARA.

ANTARA News Agency also thanked NESO for their cooperation and the scholarships, the program might be continued each year, and involve the PWI (Indonesia Press Association), Press Council and other journalist organizations, ANTARA is ready to help facilitate, Mukhlis said.

Nuffic Neso Indonesia is a non-profit organization officially designated and funded by the Dutch government to deal with various matters relating to the Dutch higher education.

StuNed, stands for Studeren in Nederland, or study in the Netherlands, is a scholarship program that is part of the development cooperation policy of the Dutch government which aims to support the achievement of the "UN Millennium Development Goals" in 2015.

Editor: Bambang