TRF's Election Reporting Course in Cairo: my experience

I had high expectations from the moment I learned that I had been selected to attend a Thomson Reuters course on Elections Reporting in Cairo. But the course exceeded my expectations. The methodology and tools made the course different and newer than all the previous courses I had attended.

The tools used to gain information were most befitting for a media organization that is as large and prestigious as Reuters. I learned to respect deadlines, which is something that I and many Egyptians are not used to!

I benefited from the mix of participants who represented a wide range of backgrounds, media outlets and different views. I also liked the break-out sessions and working in small groups

I loved Reuters’ writing style and I have vowed to apply it and to teach it to many of my colleagues, and the way trainers were in control of the sessions, how they managed them and stuck to the schedule.

We also took an oath: that we shall not betray the profession’s standards nor our conscience when we are reporting, and that we must only act as observers to events and not players in order to relay to readers what we see with total neutrality.

I only wish I could have attended such a course at the beginning of my professional career – so that I would have advanced more quickly.

My last wish is that Thomson Reuters Foundation is generous enough to train more local journalists (from outside Cairo) such as myself.

Thank you Reuters.

By Nermeen Nagdy, correspondent in Luxor for Tahrir newspaper.