IPJ Scores More Hits in Morocco

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Online journalism workshop at the Institut Superieur de l'Information et de la Communication.

IPJ director Magda Abu-Fadil discusses press freedom with Moroccan journalists in Rabat.

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Students and faculty members engaged Abu-Fadil in discussions on media ethics at Fez University.

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Regional journalists attend online journalism workshop in Fez.

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Journalists and students learn about databases and blogs at Al Akhawayn University in Ifran.

Participants at Al Akhawayn University workshop in Ifran.

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Investigative journalism featured at workshop for Meknes region journalists.

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"La Press en Debat" at Rabat's Ecole des Hautes Etudes de Management.

Journalists, facutly members and students across Morocco attended lectures and workshops on media ethics, press freedom, investigative journalism and computer-assisted research and reporting that featured Institute for Professional Journalists director Magda Abu-Fadil

A tour organized by the U.S. Embassy in Rabat and sponsored by the U.S. State Department's Speakers' Program kick-started in the Moroccan capital with an online journalism workshop at the Institut Superieur de l'Information et de la Communication for a group of undergraduate students. The focus was on research on the Web.

Abu-Fadil later met with a group of print, broadcast and news agency journalists at the U.S. Embassy's Public Affairs Section to discuss covering news in a restricted environment and gaining accesss to information despite editorial constraints.

The second leg of the tour involved a lecture/presentation on media ethics to a packed assembly hall at Fez University. The students' questions dealt primarily with double standards that, according to them, are practiced by western media covering events in the Arab/Muslim world. Other hotly debated issues included the uses of pictures and videos of victims, source attribution, conflicts of interest and violation of people's privacy.

Also in Fez, Abu-Fadil conducted an online journalism workshop for regional reporters and editors at the ETEC institute.

The fourth of the five-day Moroccan visit took Abu-Fadil to the mountain region of Ifran where she conducted a workshop in investigative journalism for reporters and editors from various media and a grouup of interested students. It was held at the picturesque campus of Al Akhawayn University. Participants were particularly interested in browsing databases and learning about weblogs (blogs).

On the final day, Abu-Fadil conducted a workshop in investigative journalism for reporters in the Meknes region, focusing on computer-assisted research. The tour ended with a return to Rabat and participation in a conference entitled "La Presse en Debat" at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes de Management, a leading business school in the country, where the IPJ director called for higher professional standards in Arab journalism.