70 Balkan journalists received certificates (EBU)

Two ceremonies organised in Sarajevo (15 July) and Podgorica (17 July) have marked the conclusion of a series of training activities aimed at putting the EBU's editorial principles into practice.

Journalists from Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina took part in specialised seminars looking closely at the EBU principles: being impartial and independent, fair and respectful, accurate and relevant, and connected and accountable.

In each public service broadcaster, two journalists were trained up to be able to further train their colleagues in best practice to raise professional standards.

To celebrate the successful conclusion of the series of seminars, Bosnia and Herzegovina Radio and Television (BHRT) and Radio and Television Montenegro (RTCG) organized diploma ceremonies to reward their journalists who had delivered or attended the training sessions.

BHRT’s ceremony in Sarajevo was chaired by the Director General of BHRT Mr Muhamed Bakarevic who congratulated BHRT trainers Belmin Karamehmedović and Nikola Marković and thanked the EBU for its support. 33 other journalists also received a certificate. Dr. Jasna Jelisic from the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Deputy Head of Mission Nina Suolomainen from the OSCE also addressed the participants. 

At the ceremony in Podgorica, the RTCG Director General Rade Vojvodic emphasized the importance of education and of further developing journalists' abilities to adapt quickly to the requirements of modern reporting and new technological developments. RTCG journalists Emina Hodžić Knežević and Aleksandar Mirković received their Trainers certificate together with other 33 journalists.

The seminars were organised within the framework of a two year partnership project between the EBU and EU aimed at "enabling the democratic role of PSM in EU accession countries." The project, developed by the EBU Partnership Programme and Eurovision ACADEMY, has been running since December 2012 with 500.000 euros of EU funding. It involves 8 public service broadcasters from EU Enlargement countries and is designed to spread  the EBU values and editorial principles by training up journalists who then can pass their knowledge on to their colleagues.

The EBU, together with BHRT and RTCG, will provide further training in future in areas such as working with social media and reporting with iPhones.