N E W S L E T T E R -- summer 2001

Rebuilding the network: Jemstone has been awarded a two-year European Union contract to evaluate the impact of our old Med Media project and construct a new programme of workshops and seminars for the media in the Eastern Mediterranean.
We are up-dating our database of Jemstone 'graduates' so please, urgently, send us your latest contact details and those of anybody else who was involved in any Jemstone event (as an expert or participant) from 1993 until 1999 -- info@jemstone.net.
This is an important development and will give us a chance to reactivate the network and again run many of the kind of events that brought us together.

Al Jazeera: the Jemstone director and deputy have just completed a series of week-long training workshops for the satellite TV broadcaster in Qatar and according to Al Jazeera "the results are already evident on screen". Jemstone worked with nearly all the news presenters and sixteen foreign correspondents, as well as video editors, studio directors and broadcast journalists. The aim is maintain Al Jazeera's high standards and ensure that the output stays comparable with the best global news broadcasters. More events are planned for later this year.

www.jordandevnet.org: after the successful public launch in the spring, with over 120 guests and widespread media coverage, the biggest development web-site in Jordan has secured funding for a further year. Jemstone is managing the project for the development community in Jordan; besides a comprehensive events diary, news, jobs and forums, it already has the most up-to-date development data-base in the country, with profiles of over 700 organisations.

Euro-Gulf: Jemstone has produced for the European Commission an implementation report for media co-operation between Europe and the countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council. It is hoped that the project itself will go ahead later this year.

Commercial consultancy and training: Jemstone is now providing training and consultancy for a number of media organisations in the Middle East and is able to offer workshops in a wide range of journalistic and media skills, with training provided by former BBC and other experts. Among the subjects offered: video editing, reporting, studio directing, web publishing, etc.

Beyond MENA: we are investigating opportunities in Sudan, Kenya and Yemen and are keen to replicate our work in new areas where the importance of independent, courageous media is beginning to be understood.
Please contact tudor@jemstone.net.

Jemstone booklets: a few copies are still available in Arabic and English of the notes on our workshops on investigative journalism; we are planning an updated and expanded version later this year; and we expect to be producing a booklet on TV reporters and correspondents.

Media and development: having run the media relations for the World Bank's Mediterranean Development Forum in Cairo last year, Jemstone is now completing a workshop on media relations skills and strategy for development organisations in Jordan.

www.jemstone.net: new links in the Journalinks section; major redesign imminent.

tl/15//6/01

Jemstone is the biggest media training and development network in the Middle East. This Newsletter goes to over 1,200 media professionals interested in Jemstone�s work supporting media, supporting development. Send us names and e-mail addresses of others, in the Euro-Med region and beyond, who might find it useful.