The FINANCIAL — Not quite a year after its founding, the International Academy of Journalism (Intajour) in Hamburg has welcomed its first Fellows.
The talented young journalists, six women and six men aged between 27 and 35, come from Armenia, China, Egypt, Ghana, Liberia, Moldova, Nepal, Nicaragua, Syria, Thailand, Ukraine and Zimbabwe. As Intajour Fellows they will spend a year fine-tuning their journalistic skills, and in particular learn the best ways of tapping into the new digital opportunities for their work.
“Today, a project whose establishment we announced one year ago during Bertelsmann’s 175th anniversary celebrations has become a reality,” said Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Hartmut Ostrowski, recalling the idea and the beginnings of the institution he initiated. Ostrowski explained the meaning and purpose of the Academy to the Fellows, their trainers and Intajour Director Werner Eggert: “This is Bertelsmann’s way of making a contribution to the future of quality journalism in the digital age.” He said both he and the company were convinced that “a lively and active free press requires well-trained, globally networked journalists with high standards of journalistic quality and responsibility.”
In an intensive application process, the Fellows convinced Intajour’s management as well as its top-notch Journalistic Advisory Board with their wide range of journalistic work to date and their professional stance. The Advisory Board is comprised of editors-in-chief Peter Kloeppel (RTL), Georg Mascolo (Der Spiegel) and Thomas Osterkorn (Stern), the heads of the RTL School of Journalism and the Henri Nannen School, Leonhard Ottinger and Andreas Wolfers and Bertelsmann's head of Corporate Communications, Thorsten Strauß. The first twelve Fellows were selected from more than 400 online applications received from 80 countries.
The first of three attendance phases, each lasting several weeks, has now begun in Hamburg. The other two will be held next year in Cologne and Berlin. Hamburg's Mayor Olaf Scholz met the twelve Intajour Fellows at City Hall on Thursday, giving the young journalists an opportunity to talk at length with the Mayor of the Hanseatic city about their expectations of the one-year course.
Olaf Scholz told the Fellows: “In Germany today, no real heroism is required to work as a journalist. But some of you come from countries where press freedom was restricted until recently or still doesn’t exist. Man’s greatest freedom is not only to be able to express his own opinion, but also to disseminate it unhindered. I hope that your participation in this international program for journalists in Hamburg will give you a lot of strength and inspiration for your journalistic work in your own home countries.”
Between attendance phases, Intajour continues its work with the Fellows via e-learning. The focus of the curriculum in the first attendance phase is practical journalism and online journalistic tools. The second focus of the program is specifically dedicated to issues of media ethics and press freedom.
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