MHM offers free journalism training resources

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The MHM website, established in 2006, is maintained and updated by David Brewer, a journalist who is actively involved in international media development and worked for the BBC for more than 20 years. Brewer was the managing editor of BBC News Online, managing editor of the online version of CNN in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and is a currently a content strategy consultant with Al Jazeera English.

The aim of MHM is to benefit anyone working in the media, particularly in difficult situations. “I use it to offer free training resources to the media organisations I have been working with, either face-to-face, or by email. Those resources are then available to all, not just the media organisation that requested it,” Brewer said in an interview. The site can be found here.

“Too much media development is project-led. Once these project funds have run out, the report written, the boxes ticked and the contracts paid, the media development organisation will move on to the next project,” he said.

“It is frustrating to do media development work and be unable to follow up because of a lack of funds. I wanted MHM to fill that space.”

The MHM website contains everything from basic lessons about what news is and what a journalist is, to more complex lessons on editorial ethics, journalism training, investigative journalism, media management, and tips for getting a great interview.

A media ethics section offers an introduction to some of the issues that confront journalists as they go about their work. Modules are also offered to help media organisations ensure that they offer balanced, objective and impartial journalism that informs the public debate. The media management modules are designed to help media business managers build strong, independent and financially sustainable media operations. The investigative journalism section contains modules donated to MHM by internationally recognised experts in the field.

MHM allows free registration of members, and, once approved, a new member can apply to be an “author” and gain access to the site's content management system, which will enable them to upload articles and images to the MHM for consideration and approval. All articles published on the website have either been written for the site or have been published elsewhere and submitted for re-publication. MHM has volunteer authors from every continent and has neither sponsors nor funders, and it does not take advertising.

APN is an electronic network for the Arab press. It is operated by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and supported by the leading Danish press group JP/Politiken.

Article published courtesy of RAP21