Citizen Journalism Program Begins

The "Citizen Journalism" program, jointly organized by the Bahçeşehir University Continuing Education Center (BÜSEM) and the Bahçeşehir University Directorate of Media Relations (BAUmedya) and coordinated by journalist Hıdır Geviş, is starting.

Citizen journalism, a new trend in world media that has also begun to attract interest in Türkiye with developing mobile technologies, is becoming a high-profile training program with a teaching staff made up of leading names in the media world. Jointly organized by BÜSEM and BAUmedya and coordinated by journalist Hıdır Geviş, the program begins on Saturday, 23 February 2013, with the aim of training managers, reporters and editors working in the media sector, as well as those who want to enter the sector.

In the 10-week "Citizen Journalism" program, to be held on Saturdays, academics from the world's leading universities will teach alongside names from the media and business worlds. The program's teaching staff includes many prominent names, from Ertuğrul Özkök to Ahmet Hakan, from Leyla Alaton to Erdoğan Aktaş, and from Emily Bell of Columbia University to Lee Rainie of MIT.

Hıdır Geviş, who carries out practical work on citizen journalism via social media, gives conferences on the subject at various universities and will coordinate the "Citizen Journalism" program, stated that one of the main purposes of the program is to help the media sector integrate with digital technologies, and continued:"One of our primary goals is to train managers, editors and reporters working in the media sector. Reporters trained in journalism now face ordinary citizens equipped with mobile technologies. We will help media professionals learn how to benefit from this new and endless source of reporters."

Stating that they have kept the program's target audience broad, Hıdır Gevişsaid: "We believe that individuals, employees of the advertising and public relations sector, and employees of corporate communications and PR departments of companies will also benefit greatly from this program. Because we will teach them how to set up their own personal media on the Internet without incurring any costs or acquiring any special technical equipment. In this way, they will have the chance to share their own thoughts, ideas and projects directly with wide audiences and increase their impact."

Venue : BAU Beşiktaş Campus
Start Date: 23 February 2013