It was for the first time that the region's premier media training academy, Twofour54 Tadreeb, organized a regional media industry skills training course in Oman, at Muscat Press Agency's headquarters in Muscat. Called the 'Writing and Editing for Web' training program, the course was mainly created for the agency. The program was hosted by Twofour54 Tadreeb, in collaboration with expert instructors from the Thomson Foundation.

The course was for two weeks' duration, in which 30 journalists from Muscat Press Agency were trained in Arabic web writing skills. The basic aim of the program was to help strengthen the agency's growing online news offering.

"The Thomson Foundation is very pleased to be able to help Muscat Press Agency realize its web ambitions and we look forward, through our partnership with Twofour54 Tadreeb, to further collaborate in this exciting world of new media," said Janet Boston, CEO of the Thomson Foundation.

It should be noted that vocational training program, which was delivered on site at the Muscat Press Agency premises, was tailor-made by Twofour54 to equip delegates with the practical and tangible skills needed to generate high quality, vibrant online news content, and encourage the six daily and weekly publications presently produced by the organization.

"The Twofour54 Tadreeb 'writing and editing for web' training course was invaluable in assisting us to use online media platforms more effectively. The academy's flexible and tailored approach to training meant that the program matched our exact specifications, ensuring that the vocational skills learnt will have an immediate and measurable impact on the way we approach and manage the creation of online content," said Ahmed Bin Issa Al-Zidjali, CEO of the Muscat Press Agency and editor-in- chief of Al Shabiba newspaper, while commenting on the training course.

Twofour54 Tadreeb, presently provides over 200 bilingual courses - all of which are result-driven, practically-focused and of an international standard - across a wide range of media disciplines, covering the full media spectrum including Television; Broadcast Technology; Journalism; Digital Media; Radio; Media Business and Production.