Tour not for the camera shy

Amira El Sherif is interviewed as part of a mock
current affairs program by a panel made up of Marwa
Ahmed, Bothina Al Mulla, Aalia Al Barwani and Ali
Saad.

Students, faculty and staff found themselves in front of the cameras during a tour of the high-tech Al Jazeera TV Channel newsroom late October.

Al Jazeera is an Arabic News Channel based in Qatar. Founded in 1996, the Channel broadcasts news, talk shows, documentaries and debates covering politics, business, culture, sports and health 24-hours a day.

The WCMC-Q tour group included Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dr. Michael Pungente, medical students Ali Saad, Marwa Ahmed, Aalia Al Barwani and Amira El Sherif, first year pre-medical student Bothina Al Mulla, and Public Affairs staff.

The invitation to tour the production facilities was offered to the students involved in a recent training video commissioned by Al Jazeera for their budding TV journalists.

Al Mulla said she jumped at the opportunity to tour Al Jazeera after having visited the network in her high school years.

The sophisticated Al Jazeera Channel newsroom
where approximately 15 hours of news bulletins are
broadcast daily.

"I wanted to go because it is a famous Channel and I wanted to find out how they put the programs together and what developments there were for the Channel," she said.

"They showed us everything — how the programs are filmed, how they design the backgrounds for each program, and how just one studio can deal with a succession of programs just by changing the background. It was really fascinating."

Students were able to experience what it was like on-set, pretend to be current affairs experts and give mock presentations and interviews, and see themselves on camera.

Al Mulla said she was impressed by the technology used by the Channel and to hear of plans for the Al Jazeera International Channel starting early 2006.

The International Channel will broadcast English-language news and current affairs 24-hours a day across the globe. It will be the world’s first English-language news service to be based in the Middle East.

WCMC-Q Director of Public Affairs, Michael Vertigans, said Al Jazeera planning editors were keen to work with WCMC-Q on stories relating to medicine, health and education.

Just as WCMC-Q is helping to produce doctors of tomorrow, so Al Jazeera is training young journalists for careers in television.

"Although we are two different institutions, the common bond of education is what united us in this instance and proved a valuable platform to share experiences."

Marwa Ahmed, Ali Saad and Amira El Sherif debate
politics during their tour of Al Jazeera Channel.

Students are shown some of the cutting-edge film
and broadcast technology at Al Jazeera.

Krista Dobinson, Assistant Editor/Writer