Local media recognized for its integrity and credibility
KUWAIT: Kuwait News Agency's Board Chairman and Director General Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij Al-Ibrahim Al-Sabah called on Kuwaiti youth to shoulder their national responsibilities and contribute to the state building and development. "We are very confident in the competence of the people of Kuwait and their ability to impressively and boundlessly contribute to various domains," KUNA chief Sheikh Mubarak said in a speech at the graduation ceremony of trainees of KUNA's Fourth Journalism Training Program for university students at KUNA headquarters Wednesday.
He stressed that: "youth are the real wealth of Kuwait". He pointed out that the journalism training program is a collaborative work carried out to support of the government plans and relentless efforts for comprehensive development. Sheikh Mubarak thanked the professors of Kuwait University and the Gulf University for Science and Technology for their cooperation in preparing for this year's edition of the program.
He said the training program launched by KUNA four years ago has achieved great success. "I hope the program will be honed in the coming years to serve a larger number of students and specialties needed by Kuwait," he concluded. In a similar speech, KUNA Deputy Director-General for the Editorial Sector Saad Al-Ali lauded the trainees' keenness to learn and enhance their journalistic skills.
The reports written by the trainees during the course showed promising talents of youth, he said, noting that these reports have been greatly received by local press and social media. "Media has become a prime source of information," he said, noting that the Kuwaiti media is internationally recognized by its integrity and credibility. He urged the trainees to be the best ambassadors for this media in the world.
For his part, KUNA Deputy Board Chairman Adnan Al-Rashed stressed in a speech the need to keep pace with rapid developments in the media domain through fostering skills of students and educating them about the latest techniques, tools and approaches in the field. Working in media and journalism professions require personal skills, which could be maximized by training to prepare them for the job market, he said.
Meanwhile, Director of Kuwait University Dr Hussein Al-Ansari said that media is a double-edged sword. "The challenge is to create a successful and constructive media that disseminates knowledge and raise people awareness," he said. He added that the Kuwait University is attempting to partner with various bodies to train university students and equip them with the required practical skills to enter a highly competitive labor market. "Investment in capacity building is one of the main pillars of Kuwait's development plan," he clarified.
He expressed pleasure to attend the graduation ceremony of a new batch of trainees of Kuwait University's mass communication students. He lauded KUNA's remarkable efforts and contributions to harness the skills of those students.
On behalf of her fellow graduating trainees, Aisha Al-Kanderi expressed gladness to attend the KUNA training course. "The training program has offered us a great opportunity to meet several leading media figures who educated us about creativity, discipline and hard work and how to improve our skills and get the best out of us," she said. She thanked KUNA and Kuwait University for the greatly beneficial training program they co-organized. "KUNA is a source of pride as a national institution that shows Kuwait's reputable media," she said.
The fourth training program was launched by KUNA on Aug 13 and lasted until Sept 24 to qualify 27 university students for journalistic work. The program included lectures and workshops on different journalistic skills. This is the fourth consecutive training program organized by KUNA for university students during the summer period. - KUNA