Int'l Stratcom Youth Forum continues in southern Turkiye

By Gozde Bayar

ANTALYA, Turkiye (AA) - A gathering of young communicators from across the world continued on Monday in Turkiye's Mediterranean province of Antalya.

Kicking off on Friday, the six-day event Stratcom Youth: International Young Communicators Forum was jointly organized by the Turkish Communications Directorate and Youth and Sports Ministry.

The forum, which is hosting 100 young communicators from 13 countries and 42 universities, is one of the side events of the Stratcom Summit 2021, held in December, that brought together experts and leaders from across the world.

Its participants, university students pursuing communications degrees, are being given the chance to expand their theoretical and practical knowledge in this field, as well as to connect with experts.

The event includes training and workshop session on more than 20 subjects, including strategic communication, public diplomacy, fighting disinformation, digital media, crisis communication, public relations, and journalism.

On its third day, Serdar Karagoz, Anadolu Agency's director-general, said the agency was making investigative journalism a greater priority.

"Sometimes you chase a story for years to shine light on it. When you do this, you become respectable as a media organization. As Anadolu Agency, we're focusing on investigative journalism in the upcoming period," Serdar Karagoz said on Sunday at the Stratcom Youth: International Young Communicators Forum.

Speaking at the event being held in the Turkish resort city of Antalya, Karagoz told the listeners that pursuing investigative journalism demanded time and sources.

All news agencies and conventional media should value investigative journalism, he stressed.

Discussing how journalism should be conducted in the current fast-paced digital age, Karagoz touched on the rise of citizen journalism, with some social media heads making statements in support of such efforts.

In this environment, Anadolu Agency is focusing on how to remain and serve as a news source , as well as how to establish its reliability as a source of news, he added.

It was investigative journalists who documented how French cement company Lafarge had been financing the Daesh/ISIS terror organization with its factory in northern Syria, said Karagoz, asserting that through investigative journalism, Anadolu Agency would "steer the world."

Documents obtained by Anadolu Agency showed last year that French intelligence agencies were aware of Lafarge's ties to Daesh/ISIS.

The documents exposed how Lafarge, charged with complicity in crimes against humanity linked to funding Daesh/ISIS operations in Syria, had a relationship with the terror outfit that French intelligence knew fully about.

French agencies, according to data obtained, used Lafarge's network for intelligence collecting purposes in the region and to maintain operations.

- Anadolu Agency greatly values photojournalists

Pointing out that every war has a "symbolic photograph," Karagoz said Anadolu Agency was renowned internationally for the photographs it published.

He went on that the agency organizes the Istanbul Photo Awards every year, with more than 16,000 photographers and photojournalists from around the world applying to take part in the contest.

Anadolu Agency expands its brand by publishing the best news photos in the world, he said, adding: "Sometimes, a photo says it all. We attach great importance to our photojournalists. They're at the center of our work."

Highlighting the intensity of disinformation in the media, he said that under these circumstances, "you have to get your visuals to subscribers in the simplest form possible."

- 3 projects to become 'robust news source' in digital age

On Anadolu Agency's future aims, the director-general laid out plans to transform the agency into an international news agency headquartered in Turkiye.

By introducing three new projects, the agency is seeking to answer the question: "How to become a robust news source in the digital age?"

"The first (project) is the Green Line, our project for environmental news. Our expert journalists, who command deep knowledge of environmental and climate issues from all aspects, will focus on issues of public interest," he said.

Another project is the Fact-Checking Line, comprising of a team of journalists equipped to verify reports and prevent disinformation, he said, adding that the "most effective method against disinformation" is to quickly gather the most accurate information available.

With its third project, the Discrimination Line, Anadolu Agency will focus on discrimination based on language, religion, race, and gender, closely monitoring such issues around the world.