* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
A group of 15 journalists from North African countries attended a five-day course on economic and financial reporting in Cairo, Egypt, that focused on foreign direct investment and capital flight. The journalists from Egypt, Sudan, Algeria and Morocco also honed their approach in covering economic and financial news and providing context to readers as part of the course delivered by Thomson Reuters Foundation in partnership with the Norwegian Agency for Development and Cooperation.
The course, delivered by trainers Isa Mubarak and Ghaida Ghantous, utilised presentations, workshops and discussions to cover key topics such as economic indicators, the investment environment and regulations, market movers and investment tools, supply and demand, capital flow as well as corporate financial news.
"I found this course very useful. Since Algeria does not have a real economy with a stock market or financial transparency, I gained new knowledge and learned from the experience of other journalists on the course," said journalist Mohammed Ameziane Bergheul.
Writing skills were honed through practical exercises that focused on accuracy, balance, clarity, sourcing, structure, maintaining focus during a developing story and handling breaking news. The exercises emphasised the need to provide context and background and explain complicated terms and numbers to readers.
On the final day of the course guest speaker Abdel-Fattah El Gibali, deputy director of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, discussed coverage of government budgets and how to measure their impact on economic development and the lives of citizens.
The course also addressed ethics and the legal dangers journalists can face while covering economic and financial news.
Participants were asked to submit a story at the end of course that dealt with an economic or financial issue in their country.
