Kristyn Comino
12 August 2015: Working as journalists in top newsrooms in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), meeting high profile diplomats and exploring the Middle East's spectacular deserts, glittering cities, museums and mosques are just some of the experiences two University of Canberra journalism students had on a study tour.
On the inaugural Australia-Middle East Journalism Exchange study tour, final-year journalism students Zac Schroedl and Scherry Bloul spent 19 days in Qatar and various parts of the UAE, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, from 30 May to 17 June.
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UC students Zac Schroedl and Scherry Bloul in Sharjah. Photo: Scott Bridges
While on tour, the students produced work for publication in both the Middle East and Australia and for assessment in one of their final journalism units, Journalism Project, with the tour designed to improve cross-cultural understanding by fostering better informed journalism.
"It was a huge honour to be able to go on the inaugural Australia-Middle East Journalism Exchange study tour, it was a great experience," Mr Schroedl said. "We made contacts, learnt new skills and were exposed to a whole other media environment – these are all experiences we will take with us as we finish our degrees and enter the workforce."
"This trip exceeded my expectations, which were already high," Ms Bloul said. "This experience is something that stands out from my degree, and, for me, this was the perfect exchange to do because we got to meet journalists in a different part of the world and contribute to real newsrooms."
Ms Bloul and Mr Schroedl made working visits to news organisations including one of the biggest media conglomerates in the Middle East, Al Jazeera, where they were hosted by news anchor Kamahl Santamaria. They also visited the headquarters of popular news website Doha News, TV broadcaster Sky News Arabia, the Dubai News Centre and Qatar Foundation Radio, among others.
The trip also saw the pair invited on high level delegations to meet local government officials, such as Australia's Ambassador to the UAE and Qatar, Pablo King, and director of the Department of Culture and Arts in the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage (Qatar), Faleh Al-Ajlan Al-Hajiri.
When they were there, the ACT locals had work published including an exclusive interview with former Al Jazeera English journalist Sue Turton, an informative report on Ramadan opening hours and even a story on the re-stock of fruit drink Tang, originally from the US but now popular in the Middle East.
"It was quite eye-opening to discover the limits to what you can actually do as a journalist over there. A lot of people were not willing to go on the record, even for stories about issues we might consider to be straight-forward things – such as whether the Tang drink was in stock in their shop – so it really showed me the freedom we have as journalists in Australia," Mr Schroedl said.
The 24-year-old Bachelor of Journalism student is particularly interested in broadcast journalism and wants to "produce good, emotive video content that makes people think," saying a highlight of the trip was interviewing Dubai's first local professional comedian, Ali Al Sayed, for a video story.
Ms Bloul, who is currently and editorial assistant at The Canberra Times and acting co-editor to their Fly music magazine lift-out, is a Bachelor of Journalism/Bachelor of Arts student with French and Moroccan heritage who speaks three languages, including Spanish which she studied at the University. She said these skills and the study tour will hopefully help her reach her goal of becoming a foreign correspondent.
"The number one thing I took from this exchange was confidence. I now have the confidence to do things on my own, and I want to use that to go overseas and work as a correspondent. I can see myself going back to an Arab country or anywhere in the world and using the skills I've learnt to report news from there for Western audiences."
Having interviewed women while overseas for a piece she is now working on about the empowerment of women through social media in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf Ms Bloul said despite having been to some Muslim countries before, she still had preconceived ideas about how women were treated in Qatar and the UAE before going on the trip.
"Before the exchange I had certain preconceptions about the Middle East that were quashed once I was there. Those preconceived notions included the idea that women weren't necessarily so active in their society, but I saw that they're actually quite empowered and engaged. Qatari and UAE women seem well-respected. I also found it to be a very chivalrous environment," Ms Bloul said.
Mr Schroedl said that some of his ideas about the Middle East were also unravelled by his experiences on the exchange.
"The way Western media covers the Middle East does seem to be done poorly. All we see is the negative stuff – fear of ISIS, corruption in the upcoming Qatar World Cup – but I have fond memories of exploring cities, being in fascinating mosques, eating street food and walking around with so many people from all cultures, there's just so much more to their life."
The students had the chance to immerse themselves in the culture and see popular tourist attractions while they were overseas, exploring places like the desert of Qatar, visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation and The Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping mall.
Ms Bloul and Mr Schroedl will both complete their degrees in November, with Ms Bloul saying it has been a great experience.
"I chose UC because I had heard it was more hands-on and my degree has been really, really good. It's a perfect mixture of theory and hands-on experience. For example, last year we did practical audio and video journalism units, but we also did theoretical units such as ones that revolve around journalism's role in societies around the world."
Australia-Middle East Journalism Exchange is a not-for-profit organisation, with the pilot tour supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Council for Australian-Arab Relations and also being one of the faculty-led study tours available through the University's Faculty of Arts and Design.
The company was co-founded by University PhD candidate Scott Bridges, who is researching media in the Middle East and has worked for and written a book about Al Jazeera English.
Having accompanied the students on the trip, Mr Bridges said he hopes it gave the students tools and networks for informing themselves and to enable them to produce more accurate reporting of the contemporary Middle East.
"The skills and experience gained on the study tour will hopefully give the students a solid foundation which will enable them to produce better informed journalism about the Middle Eastern region over the course of their entire careers," Mr Bridges said.
"More informed journalists, with personal experience of the other region, will be better placed to analyse and report its complexities and the relationship between them both, to the news consumer."
Mr Bridges said the company hopes to facilitate a two-way exchange of students between Australia and the Middle East from 2016.
