100 delegates representing 36 Members took part in the News Contacts Meeting 2018 (Cascais, Portugal 14 - 16 May), which brought together Members who nurture the News Exchange on daily basis. They discussed, among other issues, how to better profit from the indispensable service that the News Exchange brings to their newsroom and how to fulfil their remit taking into account the restrictive copyright law.

The News Exchange is “all of us working together” said Geertje Bal, Chair of the Editorial Subcommittee and Deputy Foreign Editor at VRT in her opening speech. She hoped delegates would learn how to better work “with and for” the News Exchange. 

With the diversity of the Members in mind, Justyna Kurczabinska, Head of Eurovision News Exchange and News Strategy, presented the newly approved News Roadmap 2018-2019 that builds upon the continued commitment to deliver quality EVN and Eurovision Social Newswire services. The strategic paper also aims to strengthen the digital news and data journalism communities and embraces broader public service journalism projects such as the PSM News Report or the Investigative Journalism Network.

As part of the initiatives included in the News Roadmap 2018-2019, a delegation of the News Exchange, headed by Luis Jimenez, News External Relations Manager, visited RTP on the side-lines of the meeting to learn first-hand how the News Exchange and the EBU can better help its Members to achieve their goals.

Attendees also debated journalism ethics and editorial questions; were trained how to ethically verify Eyewitness Media and brainstormed about the future News Exchange services in a session led by Simon Ward, Assignment Editor at BBC Newsgathering.

“I am very pleased with the turnout and the many new faces who had a chance to meet their colleagues face to face” and “particularly happy to see representatives from Members’ digital activities, which expand and refresh the Eurovision news community” Benoit Balon-Perin, Chair of the News Committee and Digital Workflows Manager at RTBF, said.

The switch to digital is particularly tangible at SVT where the Eurovision desk has been merged with the online video desk. Mateusz Piekut, Digital Video Editor shared with attendees how this new desk produces videos for their online and social outputs and what make them trending.

 “It was a terrific meeting and provided a forum for the exchange of information and practices which will benefit Members as well as the Eurovision News Team”, said Jeff Dubin, EBU Head of News and Events.

The News Contacts Meeting has become an inspirational corner for journalists from across the EBU Membership that excel in their commitment to public service by ensuring that their newsrooms and audiences get the best content to better explain world events to their audiences.

Presentations from the event can be found below. Hear why the Eurovision News Exchange is so important to Members in our video above.