We love to know we are making a difference. For GCJD, that means seeing journalists we work with use the knowledge and skills they acquired during our trainings.
In September, five Lebanese journalists and a representative from our long-standing partner, the Samir Kassir Foundation, visited Houston to learn more about the oil and gas industry.
Over the past month, 3 out of the 5 journalists have written stories for their respective Lebanese publications on the oil and gas industry, using knowledge and context they acquired on their visit here as a back drop.
Jeremy Arbid, a journalist for Executive Magazine wrote a series of articles covering issues including new industry policies in the works, corruption in the government agencies that oversee the energy sector, and risk-assessment studies.
Marc Ayoub, a Field Engineer at Petroserv SAL and researcher at Lebanon Gas and Oil Media Platform (LGOMP) wrote an article about his visit to Texas, as well as an article putting the recent surveys and potential discoveries of trillions of cubic feet of oil or natural gas in Egypt and Cypress into context for the Lebanese discoveries. Then, in November, Ayoub continued writing about the industry for the Al-Araby Al Jadeed Economic Supplement (in Arabic). The first article concerns the recent regional Oil & Gas Updates in the East Med Region and the second article discussed the Iranian re-entry to the O&G market after the implementation of the Nuclear Deal.
Sibylle Rizk, the editor-in-chief of the leading Lebanese business magazine Le Commerce du Levant, also wrote two stories in the most recent edition of the magazine; a general story on the oil and gas sector in Lebanon and a story on a Lebanese-American entrepreneur who is making history in the States by becoming the first exporter of American LNG. You can read her full reports (in French) here.
GCJD is dedicated to developing sustainable journalism training programs, and we will continue to support and engage with these journalists as they carry out their jobs as the watchdogs of their society.
Global Center for Journalism and Democracy
Dan Rather Communications Building, Room 201, Huntsville, TX 77340