CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINIG FOR ARMENIAN MASS MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES WAS HELD
On October 14-15, 2021, a two-day training on capacity building of Armenian Mass Media representatives was organized in Tsaghkadzor by New Generation Humanitarian NGO (NGNGO) within the framework of Sensitization and Empowerment for Equality project through a Department of State Public Affairs Section grant.
The training was aimed to develop the capacities of Mass Media representatives in Armenia on the topics of proper and impartial coverage of LGBT issues as well as recognition of hate speech.
At the beginning of the training NGNGO president Sergey Gabrielyan made an opening speech, welcoming the participants, thanking them for their interest and participation, highlighting the importance of Mass Media representatives for prohibition of the hate speech in society. Sergey Gabrielyan expressed hope that this training would be the beginning of a successful cooperation between NGNGO and Mass Media representatives.
Before passing to the main topics of the training, the participants were introduced to the training agenda, developed rules to follow throughout the whole course, as well as discussed the participants’ expectations and concerns.
The main part of the training was launched by trainer Arman Gharibyan, who presented the topic of Hate speech vs freedom of speech. The participants got acquainted with the concept of freedom of speech, the cases when freedom of speech can be restricted, hate speech, why hate speech is banned in many countries. Participants learned to distinguish hate speech from insults, learned about the consequences of hate speech and about hate crimes. As a result of concrete examples and case discussions, the participants strengthened the knowledge they gained in practice and understood how to fight against hate speech.
The second day of the training was dedicated to the topics of Media Literacy and Correct and Impartial Coverage of LGBT Issues. Participants were introduced to the concept of sexuality in detail, identified a number of important terms, rejected discriminatory terms when covering LGBTI issues, and learned their non-discriminatory equivalents. Through a practical task, the participating media representatives covered a report on LGBTI issues, which had been presented during a staged press conference.
The training was held in an atmosphere of active discussions, questions and answers, including theoretical, practical exercises, workshops, teamwork.
The training provided the trained participants with the basic skills on recognition of hate speech as well as skills to cover LGBT issues properly and impartially. The training was the beginning of cooperation with the participating media representatives to unite their efforts for the sake of impartial and literate coverage of LGBT issues in the Armenian media.
At the end of the training, the participants were awarded with certificates of participation.
