Objective grantees receive investigative journalism training

Trainers and six journalists meet at the start of this year’s Objective Investigative Journalism Training Programme

26.03.2018

 
The six grantees of the Objective Investigative Journalism Training Programme attended a training session on investigative journalism on 23 March 2018, the first step in what will shape up to be a five-month work on their winning projects.
 
The international jury had selected six projects, out of 34 submissions by journalists under the age of 35, to be supported under this year’s Objective Investigative Journalism Training Programme, which is run by the Punto 24 Platform for Independent Journalism (P24) and funded by the London-based Guardian Foundation. The journalists and project topics that the jury agreed to support at its meeting on 31 January are as follows:
 
– Desislava Şenay Martinova Öztürk, “Bonsai’s Journey in Turkey”
– Dicle Baştürk, “KanalIstanbul: An International Crisis in the Making”
– Merve Diltemiz Mol, “The LGBTI movement in State of Emergency”
– Uygar Gültekin, “Can the Assyrians Return to Their Homeland?”
– Bekir Avcı, “From Satellite Dishes to Wireless”
– Tamer Arda Erşin, “The Impact of Asbestos Release from Demolition of Buildings on the Environment and Public Health”
 
The six journalists will receive a grant to fund their investigative work, as well as training and one-on-one mentoring as part of the programme.
 
At the training session, Ümit Kıvanç, a documentary maker, journalist and writer, and Ayla Jean Yackley, a veteran journalist who has worked for international news outlets such as Reuters and Bloomberg for years, laid out basic principles of investigative journalism. The trainers will also be guiding the six journalists throughout the rest of their work as mentors.
 
The whole-day session also focused on individual projects: The six projects were discussed in detail and the journalists were given guidelines and specific recommendations on how to proceed with their work.
 
The grantees will be given a total grant of TL 10,000 each, with half of the amount paid at the beginning of work. The remaining amount will be received upon successful completion of the proposed work.