This training session was organized on the bases of the cooperation agreement between the department of Communication and Digital Media at An-Najah National University and the Journalism & Media International Center (JMIC) at OsloMet University, where 10 students and graduates from the department of Communication and Digital Media worked with a number of media students from OsloMet University to prepare news stories on press freedom in many countries.

 

In the opening session, the session coordinator Prof. Elsebeth Frey and the projects coordinator at OsloMet university Oona Solberg welcomed the participants from Palestine and emphasized the deep relationship and cooperation between the two universities .Moreover, Prof. Farid Abu Dheir, lecturer in the department of Communication and Digital Media at An-Najah National University, thanked the hosting university and the administration of An-Najah National University that supports these prominent projects which promote the journalistic capacities of its students and graduates, he also praised the cooperation between the media department in the two universities which dates back to 1999 where the first agreement was signed between them.  

 

As a gesture of the Embassy of Palestine in Norway, the Palestinian ambassador Mrs. Mary Antoinette Sedin visited OsloMet University to view the workshop and check up on the participants. The ambassador gave a welcome speech and thanked OsloMet University for its efforts to strengthen partnership with An-Najah National University. The visit included inviting all attendees to the Palestinian lunch table that was prepared by the ambassador herself. 
The period during which the session was held was marked by several leisure activities, like participating in the Norwegian National Day in celebration of the Norwegian Kingdom independence on 17.5.2022, visiting many touristic destinations in Oslo and walking around the city streets.
 

 

It is worth mentioning that the Palestinian participants have previously attended the "press freedom" program which was held twice in 2017 and 2019 in cooperation between OsleMet University and An-Najah National University during the Palestinian journalists' study of journalism at the National University of Success.

 

In a conversation with some Palestinian journalists who participated in the journalistic experience in Norway, they emphasized that this experience represented a qualitative addition to their journalistic expertise in several respects, most importantly obtaining information from its primary sources, verifying it and getting opinion and the other opinion.
Sujoud Al-Burini, one of the participating female journalists and a graduate from the department of Communication and Digital Media at An-Najah National University says: "The experience was beautiful, and I hope to repeat it again in future; we learned many useful things in the journalistic field. Since I have worked with my group on the topic of press freedom in Tunisia, I was able to get to know Tunisian journalists, in addition, I got to know a lot of new information that I was unaware of”.
Mohammad Qubbaj, a participating journalist and a graduate from the department of Communication and Digital Media at An-Najah National University says: "This experience has provided me with a lot of information about Lebanon that I was unaware of. We dealt with the topics in a smooth and constructive manner, thus enhancing my communication skills through sharing information with the Norwegian students and the colleague journalists in Lebanon".
The journalist Bassam Odeh added: "This training has improved our communication skills, in addition to accessing to the truth by presenting the views of different parties in the case”.