TRT Deputy Director General and EBU Executive Board member Zeynel Koç, and EBU Vice-President Claudio Cappon both highlighted the importance of training during speeches given at the EBU TRAINING Assembly in Istanbul, on 20-21 October.

In all 125 media training and development professionals from 57 EBU Members gathered at the Assembly, kindly hosted by Turkish EBU Member TRT, to discuss the question "How do Public Media remain relevant and distinctive in the digital age?" 

Public service media face the challenge of keeping their content relevant and reliable in a media landscape characterized by the diversification of sources and distribution platforms, the fragmentation of audiences, mobile and immediate content delivery, as well as accumulative budget cuts. This assembly will discuss ways to support both management and staff in their search for better efficiency and in implementing new ways of working.

Deputy Director General of TRT Zeynel Koç (right) said in his welcome address: "TV services are becoming more integrated, and with remote access. There will be more competitors in the future. This new TV world means we need a new business model. Employees in public service media have to adapt themselves to these changes and need to make sure they add  personal skills and abilities. And most importantly, management need to be proactive in these needs."

EBU Vice-President Claudio Cappon (left) added: "The media world is going through a period of deep changes and often dramatic ones, that set difficult and completely new challenges."

He stressed the value of the EBU Training Assembly, saying it was "a way to provide new skills for facing the inevitable changes imposed by the new world and to keep public media relevant in their programming".

For the first time, the EBU Training Assembly opened a facebook page, called EBU TRAINING Assembly, and a live Twitter feed (#EBUTRAINING), which has been tracking and reporting the event.

For more information on EBU Training courses: www.ebu.ch/training