AMMAN — Two young women in Jordan have been given the opportunity to broadcast to the BBC’s 42 million English-language listeners after winning the BBC NewsMaker competition for young journalists.
Lina Ejeilat, 24, and Sarah Badry, 21, will make and broadcast their programmes with BBC news journalists next month after their entries were chosen from among hundreds of nonprofessional English-speaking journalists aged 20-30 years old.
The winners were chosen by a panel of three judges, consisting of actress and TV presenter, Rania Kurdi, the BBC’s special correspondent and presenter, Lyse Doucet, and editor of BBC World Service News and Current Affairs, Liliane Landor.
“There was an exciting variety of subjects, and the winners came from a range of backgrounds. The entries showed that many young Jordanians are deeply concerned about issues that affect society as a whole, and are searching to find a unique identity for themselves,” said Kurdi.
Ejeilat’s winning entry explores what she describes as the emergence of a “truly Ammani music” that is distinct from both the strong influence of the West, and Arab musical traditions.
Speaking to The Jordan Times yesterday, the electrical engineering graduate, who is currently working in a telecommunications company, said she got the idea for her story after noticing a distinct change in Amman’s music scene over the past two years.
“I have always kept my eyes open for local artists and have seen more and more Jordanians forming bands and coming up with original material consisting of a fusion of various global styles.”
She believes this emerging musical form is providing Jordanians with a cultural identity of their own, distinct from traditional Arab sounds coming out of Egypt and Lebanon, who have long overshadowed Jordan as the leading musical powerhouses in the region.
“Things are changing here and this has a lot to do with young people now having exposure to the Internet and a wider cultural pool on which to draw,” said Ejeilat.
BBC special correspondent Lyse Doucet told The Jordan Times that Ejeilat’s endeavour to explore cultural changes through music was what gave her the edge over other competitors.
“I like the way Lina is trying to discover an “Ammani” music that can hold its own against all the strong cultural influences from other Arab capitals and the West. It’s also about the democratisation of culture through the Internet, about how young Jordanians can now have the world at their fingertips if they have access to computers,” she said.
For her part, Badry’s winning story revolves around the contemporary issue of Iraqi refugees in Jordan, which total more than 700,000 according to government figures.
The story draws upon her own experiences as a young third-year Iraqi medical student forced to flee her native Baghdad because of the ongoing violence and instability.
“I wanted to highlight the difficulties faced by Iraqi students here,” Badry told The Jordan Times yesterday.
When Badry arrived in Jordan she soon discovered that the universities were full and was forced to resort to e-mailing her friends in Baghdad for lecture notes to complete her studies.
“Many students that came here were unable to gain places. Some of them dropped their studies and took up low-paid jobs whilst others moved to Egypt until the government there stopped issuing visas. Others returned to Baghdad and continue to brave the violence.”
Doucet said Badri’s story provides a window on Iraq’s education system — once one of the finest in the Middle East, but now being torn apart.
“But we also hear how Sarah still hasn’t lost hope in her own country. She finds inventive ways to keep her courses in Baghdad going as she confronts the pressures now building on Jordan’s universities in the midst of this massive influx of Iraqis, “ she said.
Overall, the three judges described the competition as a fascinating insight into the perceptions of Jordanian youth.
“The winners have come up with challenging and exciting stories, and will tell them to our 42 million English-language listeners in their own words, with a fresh and engaging voice,” said Landor.
In addition to broadcasting their stories to a global audience, the two winners each won a laptop computer.
Ejeilat said the competition has given her the incentive to focus more on journalism and may well signal a career change.
“I have always been interested in a career in the media but put it on hold and focused on engineering instead. But the experience of the competition and the fact that my story won has now encouraged me to continue with journalism.”
BBC NewsMaker also awarded MP3 players to five runners-up: Maram Hamam on child labour, Manar Daghlas on Jordanian teenagers preoccupied with celebrity culture, Mohammad Nasser Eddin on the identity crisis of a Palestinian student in no-man’s land, Haitham Jafar on young managers battling with bureaucracy and Lina Samawi uncovering the secrets of the ancient city of Abila.
BBC World Service is an international radio and online broadcaster delivering programmes and services in 33 languages.
Friday-Saturday, April 27-28, 2007
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