Newspaper stand in Damascus Syria. Photo: Rasmus Steen/IMS

“Have you ever been tempted to delve into stories on a region you hear about constantly, but don't really understand? This is your opportunity. Learn about the Middle East, send back stories from Palestinian refugee camps or set your own journalistic agenda in the Middle East with an Arab colleague"

This was the wording of an ad publicised by the Danish Media and Journalism School earlier this year to attract journalists from Denmark and the Arab world to a course on investigative journalism.

The aim of this ongoing course is to partner Arab and Danish journalists in the research phase of an investigative story of their choice to strengthen investigative skills and mutual understanding. The initiative is the result of a new partnership between International Media Support (IMS), the Danish company UPDATE and the Arabic organisation Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), which trains Arab journalists in the art of investigative journalism.

Breaking with sterotypes

Eleven journalists are participating in the course, five of whom come from Denmark and six of whom came from the Middle East. Their media backgrounds are varied, spanning from the Danish Broadcast Corporation (DR), the dailies Politiken and Information, while their Arab colleagues represented Mustaqbal TV in Lebanon, Misr al-Youm in Egypt and Syria Today in Damascus.

In September, the Danish journalists thus began the first leg of the course with a seminar in Copenhagen where they received guidance on the political and social situation in countries around the Middle East as well as the media' reality in that part of the world. In the following month of October, the five Danish journalists travelled to Amman in Jordan, where they met their Arab counterparts during a joint one-day seminar and then proceeded to Cairo, Beirut and Damascus, where they worked together as investigative colleagues based in editorial offices of selected Arab media.

-The partnership between Danish and Arab journalists is an exciting idea, and especially important because of the focus on the Middle East, says Frank Hvilsom of the Danish daily Politiken upon his return from Cairo.

The journalists researched stories on a variety of issues such as the lives of women in the Arab world, the use of illegal immigrants as slavelabour in households, youth trends and the illegal sales of cornea.

Frank Hvilsom himself focussed on a story about the drive and aspirations of young Arabs in cooperation with his Arab counterpart, an Egyptian journalist by name of Mona Iraqi from ON-TV.

- My aim was to try to break with the traditional, stereotypical views in the Western world of young Arabs as either terror suspects or the unfortunate products of ghettos, Frank Hvilsom explains in an interview with IMS.

- Mona helped to pave the way through Egyptian society and gave me her opinions on the story. Of course there are cultural differences such as the different concepts of time in Denmark and the Middle East, with the Middle Eastern way taking a more flexible approach. But all in all, it was a success.

Arab journalists to visit Denamrk

In the course of the fall, the Danish investigative journalists will in turn host visits by their Arab colleagues to Denmark, who are here to explore how investigative journalism is carried out in Denmark. Thus new knowledge and relationships between media in the Middle East and Denmark will be formed in the near future.

For more about IMS work to strengthen investigative journalism in the Arab region here.