“Civil Society Approach to Media” guides organizations to a “professional relationship” with the media

Monday, 05 October 2009 09:44

The Arab Foundation for Development and Citizenship has published an Arabic-language guide to professional media relations for enhancing civil society organizations in the Arab world.

“Civil Society Approach to Media: An Executive Guide” follows a clear and simple method for introducing communication skills and media arts concepts and procedures in a logical sequence, using a number of graphics and interactive examples alongside the text. The guide was prepared and edited by journalists Mr. Jihad al-Mallah and Mr. Mohammad Al-Asadi along with the Director of the Arab Foundation for Development and Citizenship, Mr. Obaida Fares.

This guide specifically aims at explaining the role an effective relationship with media in all its forms can play in furthering civil society organizations’ work. To empower CSOs to establish and maintain such a relationship, the guide introduces various written media material and covers the various types of media channels and strategies that an organization might use to support its work.

The book primarily targets those working in public relations for civil society organizations, but the authors have considered an opportunity for a wider audience to make use of their guide. First, because many small organizations lack a specialized department for such work, the executive officers of civil society organizations are usually responsible for media-related tasks and are addressed in the guide as well.

Public and private sector employees can also benefit from the guide because the ground rules for handling public relations are quite similar in different sectors. In addition, journalism and communication students can also make use of the book as a guide for learning to draft copy for the media including press releases and feature stories in a professional manner or for studying how to conduct media conferences and interviews.

The Arab foundation for Citizenship and Development is an independent, non-governmental organization working to spread the concepts of citizenship, democracy and human rights in the Arab world. It is an initiative launched by a number of Arab activists who believe that citizenship is the answer to changing our sagging politics, culture and economy. The Foundation has accomplished many projects in recent years aimed at raising awareness about citizenship, supporting other organizations specialized in that field, and reporting violations of human rights laws. 

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