Infant mortality, child abuse and the functioning of the institute for child care covered the front pages of the Dutch newspapers last year. Abroad, media attention for children’s issues comes less naturally. Six newspaper journalists from developing countries stayed at RNTC in 2010 for a 4-week course. The course is an initiative of the Bernard van Leer Foundation and was organized by RNTC.
About us
RNTC is a centre of excellence in the field of media, development and education.
We design and implement projects that support the development of the media sector and the effective use of media for development. We do this in the developing world and in countries in transition.
Courses for organisations
Student driven education in Uganda
In order to gain ideas on how to train journalism students, teachers of the Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda) took part in a training organized by RNTC. RNTC used a newsroom setting to create the optimal real-life environment.
Basic Skills of Making TV
You can’t question their commitment. Surinam has 20 TV stations. That’s one TV station for every 25,000 people. This drive becomes even more apparent when you realise that only a few camera crews, editors, lighting people, reporters and presenters were actually trained for what they do. This is reflected in the programmes, in the production process, the logistics and the quality of what is broadcast. The “Basic Skills of Making TV” course was a two-week programme (march 2009), with a one-week follow-up later in the year (august 2009). It sought to strengthen the ability of the Suriname Television Foundation (STVS) to fulfil its public service role. The course increased the capacity of its staff so they could produce a professional, bi-weekly magazine programme.
From print to online journalism
Indonesian newspapers face falling sales and declining ad revenues. And by 2014, the Indonesian government will have deployed some 3,000 kilometres of optical fibre cable in the major Indonesian cities. This will increase the speed and availability of internet significantly. Bad news if you are a newspaper publisher – or simply a newspaper journalist. As elsewhere, Indonesian newspapers are struggling to find ways to combine internet and print so they reinforce each other. But journalists in Indonesia, as in many other developing countries, have little experience of working in a multimedia world, or its demands. In 2009, RNTC gave a helping hand by offering a tailor-made “From print to online media” course for journalists from across Indonesia.
Creative Formats in Zambia
More creative formats will be more appealing to the listeners. A Tailor Made course in Zambia will bring more variety and creativity in the selection of formats for radio makers. More creativity: it was the request from two of RNTC’s alumni, working for Educational Broadcast Services in Zambia. Together with RNTC, they defined the subject of the course and developed the training programme.
Student driven education in Uganda
Student driven is the key word at universities today. Representatives from the Makerere School of Journalism in Uganda visited different universities in the Netherlands to get inspired. “We saw real looking newsrooms. We will try to set up something like this back home.”
