By Maria Font de Matas

AMMAN - Twenty young journalists from EU member states and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will help change mutual misperceptions about the West and the Arab world by taking part in a Euro-Mediterranean Academy inaugurated in Amman on Monday.

The two-week event, organised by the Goethe Institute in Amman with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office, seeks to acquaint the young journalists with the importance of responsible and critical international journalism, according to organisers.

Working in teams on given assignments, the students will analyse and compare their working methods, approaches and results, and take a closer look at factors which influence the evaluation, interpretation and utilisation of information.

“The final goal of the academy is to establish a network of young journalists from the region and the EU that could be a useful tool for their future assignments as reporters,” Thomas Lier, director of the Goethe Institute in Amman, told The Jordan Times.

“Such a network will also help fight prejudices that are often spread by the media,” he added.

The Euro-Mediterranean Academy for Young Journalists is one of the follow up projects of the first Euro-Mediterranean Youth Parliament, which took place in Berlin in June 2007.

On that occasion, more than 100 young adults from EU and southern Mediterranean countries taking part in the Barcelona Process discussed various issues of mutual concern, including journalism.

In order to avoid negative effects associated with the spread of stereotypes about the West and the Arab world, “a responsible, critical and knowledgeable journalistic method will definitely serve to improve cultural understanding on both sides”, German Ambassador in Amman Klaus Burkhardt, pointed out during his speech at the opening session.

At the end of the two weeks, participants are expected to launch a website about the academy, trainers explained.