Doha: Qatar News Agency concluded a new training session titled: 'Editing and Media Monitoring at its premises on Friday within a series of training sessions organized by QNA with the objective of training national media cadres and upgrading their capabilities in professional media and press fields. The session saw the participation of 19 journalists, of whom 17 were from QNA and others from a variety of relevant government sectors in Qatar, along with two journalists from the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The training session came within the QNA's plans dedicated to optimizing the performance of the press and media staff in various press and media institutions, through laying out professional training programs in implementation of the outcomes of the 22nd meeting of the heads of news agencies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries held in August 2023 to reinforce relationships among news agencies in the GCC states, in addition to executing the GCC General-Secretariat's proposal with regard to on-the-j ob training. During the five-day session, the editing and media monitoring expert at QNA Ricardo Joachim delivered a lecture that was intended to upscale the participants skills and imbue them with essential tools and knowledge required to handle all aspects of editing and media monitoring, in addition to training them on methods of monitoring and analyzing all types of materials circulated in a variety of media platforms, including visual, auditory, reading and writing. The themes of the session included many critical aspects in the field of editing and media monitoring spanning from the objectives and techniques of media monitoring to encompass methods of monitoring and analyzing diverse media platforms, in addition to extracting indicators and results. Also, the session included a practical training in the techniques of leveraging the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in drafting professional reports and analyzing press trends. At the conclusion of the session, the trainees submitted graduation theses throug h producing a media material for media monitoring so as to gauge the extent of their benefits from this qualitative training in QNA, with editing and media monitoring being a vital specialty amid the rapid progression of media and technology, since understanding and analyzing information and media content are critical for any institution that desires to take strategic decisions based on accurate reading of media and public reality. Subsequently, this extensive session would dramatically optimize the capabilities of trainees in this important aspect of media work after it had provided invaluable opportunity for employees in the participating institutions to broaden their knowledge horizons and hone their skills in this field. They had been trained in effective methodologies to handle and analyze information. It was an opportunity for productive and shared interaction among them, and subsequently added a precious value for the training experience by bearing in mind their needs and providing an environment cond ucive through using highly equipped training halls at QNA facility. In March 2023, QNA inaugurated a training hall at its premises in alignment with its vision to upgrade the capabilities of cadres in media field through dedicating professional programs as part of the QNA's keenness to supply the media arena with young Qatari talented cadres capable of keeping up with the evolution in this critical field. Source: Qatar News Agency