Are you an Arab business journalist based in the Gulf? Do you want to write better business stories? Do you want to learn how to work with charts and statistics? This is your chance. Apply now for an online course in business journalism organized by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). The course will be held from September 17 to October 29. Deadline: September 3.

During the course, participants will learn the basics of covering business news, including how to explain complicated financial concepts and how to highlight the human element in business stories. The course will also explore topics including ethics, economic indicators and interviews.

The curriculum was developed by long-time U.S. journalist and editor Margie Freaney, and the course will be led in Arabic by Egyptian business reporter Atef Hassan.

Margie Freaney is a visiting fellow in Tsinghua University’s Global Business Journalism program in China, where she teaches advanced newswriting/new media and ethics this semester.

She is a former reporter and editor for daily and weekly newspapers in the United States, where her career included positions as editor-in-chief of a weekly group of newspapers in New York State; editor of the Baltimore Business Journal, and executive editor of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Prior to that, she worked for daily newspapers in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and was news editor for the Pioneer Press in suburban Chicago.

Atef Hassan is a Business reporter at Mergermarket, a publication of the Financial Times Group. He was a trainer in Cairo, Minya, Luxor and Alexandria, Egypt, for an ICFJ program on elections coverage in 2005.

Hassan also worked as a political and technology reporter for the Saudi Al-Jazirah newspaper in Cairo. Prior to that, he was a reporter and editor at regional newspapers based in Minya, Egypt.

The course is open to computer-literate Arabic-speaking journalists with at least one year of professional experience. Participants must be willing to read all course materials, conduct research for assignments and interact online with instructors and fellow participants.

To apply, click here.