NANGARHAR - An Afghan non-governmental organization has provided multimedia training to nearly 50 staff of state-owned media and provincial government, as part of an effort to strengthen journalism in the country and support freedom of expression.

“The overall objective of the training was to improve the capacity of our reporters working in Jalalabad and the districts of Nangarhar,” said Engr Zalmay, Director for Radio and Television (RTA) in the province.

“I hope that our reporters keep in mind and use in their daily work all the materials taught,” added Zalmay.

The five-day workshop, which started on 2 January, included video camera recording and editing, photo journalism and television reporting.

“UNAMA strongly supports freedom of expression, and realizes that such training improves access to information and promotes the status of journalists in Afghanistan,” said Naqib-u-Rahman Qazizada, Human Rights Officer at the UN Assistance Mission office in Jalalabad.

Radio, television and other media have grown rapidly in the last decade throughout the country. There are four TV stations and around 20 FM radio stations in the eastern provinces, including two television and 10 radio stations in Jalalabad.

Due to the rapid growth of national media “we are working hard to train many young journalists and make them capable to meet the needs of media sources,” said Muhamad Asif Amin, manager of Nai’s sub-office in Jalalabad.

Nai or Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan, a local NGO working in partnership with the non-profit Internews, organized the training and held 54 similar ones in the past year.

“I headed lots of trainings but this was the most impressive because of the keenness of the participants and their ability to understand the lessons,” said Nai trainer Sajjad Mahmood.

RTA cameraman Shafiqullah Khiwawal, 30, one of the participants of the workshop, called the training “very useful”. His colleague, Shukrullah Pasoon, 22, a producer, said he was very satisfied with its contents.

Staff of the Department of Culture and Information in Nangarhar also participated.

By Shafiqullah Waak, UNAMA