Hi everyone,

Last week, we finished the second session of training with the advanced Speak Out Tunisia students in Tunis. The students spent two weeks shooting photo and video stories, learning about journalism ethics, and producing final video projects. The PaCTE team ended the Speak Out Tunisia project on Saturday, April 21 with a closing conference in Tunis on citizen journalism featuring renowned journalists and citizen journalism experts from France and Tunisia.

Students from both the beginner and advanced sessions continue to post their work to www.speakoutunisia.com, so please check often to see their latest photo and video reports. In the meantime, several students from the advanced session took time to talk about what they gained from the training and why they believe citizen journalism is important for Tunisia (see video below).

Thanks to you, Speak Out Tunisia was a great success, and we are already planning the next training session.

Thanks again for your continued support. You made this project happen!!!

Anne and the PaCTE Tunisian team

Hi everyone,

The beginner session of Speak Out Tunisia just wrapped up in Kebili, and the students were awesome! They came from all over Tunisia, from all different backgrounds and ages, with the common goal of learning how to become ethical and objective citizen journalists. See slideshow below for pics of them at work in the field!

During the session, they researched and reported on issues ranging from unemployment and health care to graffiti and fish breeding in the small town of Kebili. They engaged in heated discussions in class about objectivity and keeping bias out of reporting; Skyped with journalism students at the University of Montana about differences in the U.S. and Tunisian press; listened to guest presentations by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR); and started their own Tumblr blog to post their photos, slideshows and videos.

Please check out their work when you can: http://speakouttunisia.tumblr.com/

Videos to come as the students finish final editing on their own.

The advanced session begins this Tuesday in Tunis, so stay tuned for more updates and please follow the students' Tumblr blog (above) to see their work.

On behalf of the Speak Out Tunisia beginner students and the upcoming advanced students, thanks again for making this possible.

Anne and the Speak Out Tunisia team

Hi everyone,

Today, the PaCTE Tunisia group made their final selection of Speak Out Tunisia participants from a pool of more than 90 applicants from across Tunisia.

For the past several weeks, members of the Speak Out Tunisia team have been busy interviewing applicants via Skype, asking questions about their motivation to participate in the training and ensuring that the final participant list reflects Tunisia's diverse social, economic and geographic makeup. 

The beginner training begins in less than two weeks in the southern town of Kebili. From there, we move north to Tunis to spend two weeks working with the advanced group. Stay tuned for more updates as we enter this action phase we've been working toward for so long.

Thanks again for your support. After months of hard work and planning, Speak Out Tunisia is about to happen because of you!

-- the Speak Out Tunisia team

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update on the Speak Out Tunisia project. We're currently accepting applications for both the beginner and advanced citizen journalism training courses set to take place in Tunisia in March, so please spread the word! Interested people can access the application online (in both French and Arabic) here.

The beginner course will take place in Kebili in southern Tunisia from March 18 - 30, and the advanced course will take place in Tunis from April 3 - 17.

We're also in the process of securing equipment donations for the course (video cameras, still cameras, audio recorders, laptops, etc.), so please be in touch if you have any digital equipment you'd like to donate!

Thanks again, everyone! We'll keep you posted as we move forward...

Anne and the PaCTE Tunisia team

Thanks to each of you, we reached our goal and are now in the planning stage for Speak Out Tunisia in March!!!!!!

Every member of the Speak Out Tunisia team -- from Paris to Tunis to Tokyo -- thanks you. We hope this video gives you a sense of how much your support means to us.

Thanks again. We couldn't do this without you.

The Speak Out Tunisia team