News directors, editors in chief and foreign editors attended the 9th Eurovision News Assembly in Prague to consider how the revolutionary changes - made possible by constantly developing technology and a 24/7 connected world - can best be used to help them better reach and serve their communities.

The keynote speaker Jeff Jarvis told the group that it was time to reinvent both television and news, stressing that it was necessary to listen to one’s audiences and consider journalism as a service, and content as a tool to meet the goals of those communities. Jarvis said that we live in an ecosystem of journalism, and advised that each of us should "do what they do best and link to the rest". Members also heard from Vice News Head of Programming in Europe, Kevin Sutcliffe, who explained that one of the keys to Vice's success was using young journalists, the same age as their target audience, to report in ways their audiences could relate to. Both Jarvis and Sutcliffe stressed that broadcasters should stop complaining about people not watching their products and look at what’s wrong with their products.

One of the high points of the assembly was a session on how to build a culture of creativity in the newsrooms of tomorrow. The session was produced by the DR News Director Ulrik Haagerup and included the legendary Ingolf Gabold, the mastermind behind the very successful Danish TV series, The Killing and Borgen; SVT's Director of News, Olov Carlsson; and Helle Hein from Copenhagen Business School. The main points that surfaced from the discussion were that “leaders must be in charge but not in control” and that “leadership must be earned, not demanded”.

Participants also had a lively discussion on whether journalists covering tragedy and suffering should allow their emotions into the story. One of the panellists, Swedish Journalist Khazar Fatemi, said that “journalists shouldn’t be afraid of being personal, as long as it isn’t private”

More News Exchange contributions than ever

Delegates also heard updates on Eurovision News activities, including the increase in member foreign contributions following the revision of the rules governing the News Exchange which went into effect on 1 January.  This was illustrated by a video that provided a dramatic illustration of the unfolded crisis in Kiev on 20 February when at least 21 protesters were killed by the security forces following the breakdown of a fragile truce with Russian government forces. Content was shared from 15 sources, with some Members offering multiple reports as well as material shot by the EBU Kiev Special Events feed-point. 

2014 Gunnar Høidahl Award for the excellence in the Eurovision News Exchange went to NOS Sven Van Bijsterveldt for his outstanding work  particularly  following the MH17 plane crash.  Two other top nominees  included NTU for the efforts of Anna Starkova to offer available material during the Ukraine crisis and TF1/LCI  EVN team led by Joëlle Dray  for efforts to share high quality foreign coverage. This prize is awarded annually at the News Assembly with nominees put forward by the Geneva news editors and the winner selected by the whole of the News Exchange team.

Other sessions focused on attracting young audiences; sharing best practises from SVT (Sweden), YLE (Finland), RTBF (Belgium) and CT (Czech Republic) and how internet and Google can better serve broadcasters.

The two-day event was attended by a record 135 participants, including radio-only Members, who have been invited for the first time, a result of the  integration of radio news and television news into a single news unit in the Media Department.