‘Gays and lesbians are changing the world by making news’

 

“New Media School” organized by Kaos GL this year for the first time started at Ankara Neva Palas Hotel with the participation of over 20 reporter candidates from 14 different cities. In the first day of the school (12^th May), basic news writing and social media workshops were conducted in order to strengthen the LGBTI formations and activists in social media field and to expand the voluntary reporter network of KaosGL.org.

 

The first workshop of the school started with the speeches of Secin Tuncel and Yildiz Tar from Kaos GL and Journalist Bugra Tokmakoglu conveyed the historical background of the “news” and “journal/newspaper” concepts.

 

Tokmakoglu also mentioned the significance of LGTI journalism while conducting a practical workshop concerning news elements, components, subjects and methods.

 

 

Mentioning that rights-based journalism is vital and important in terms of creating alternatives to mainstream, Tokmakoglu said “We need to strengthen the news channels in order to make the ones who are not heard visible and to improve social awareness. In this respect, Kaos GL’s publishing and what they have done up until today set an example. In fact, LGBTI’s become visible as a whole with a correct representation via Kaos GL who makes the LGBTI agenda visible through a rights-based point of view.”

 

Tokmakoglu said that writing and making news are as much activism as being on the fields and continued his words saying “Gays and lesbians are changing the world by making news. They tell about themselves and ensure their fights to meet the society through different channels.”

 

 

In the social media workshop conducted by Journalist and Social Media Specialist Mehmet Atakan Foca, the ways of utilization of twitter by journalists and activists were discussed. Foca gave applied training about usage of programs as Tweetdeck, making detailed researches over Twitter, reaching news and verification.

 

“New Media School” of Kaos GL continued with “Digital Security” and “Digital Storytelling” workshops. Reporter candidates who have learnt basic news writing techniques and prepared news samples improved their social media skills through the workshops conducted.

 

 

Translated by: Vahap Karakus