The EBU has drawn on the extensive value of its staff and members to hold a multi-agency workshop in Georgia focused on establishing effective public service media organisations.

42 senior managers from EBU members in Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Georgia gathered in Tbilisi on 25^th and 26^th of March to discuss common challenges, share best practice and identify ways to cooperate on the path to establishing credible public service media organizations.

The EBU event in the Georgian capital was in cooperation with the Georgian Public Broadcaster GPB, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, the OSCE missions in Armenia, Moldova and Azerbaijan, the Council of Europe in Ukraine and the EU Delegation in Georgia. Also present were the Head of the Board of Trustees at the Georgian Public Broadcaster GPB Grigol Gogelia, Radoslaw Darski, the Head of the Political, Press and Information Section for the Delegation of the EU in Georgia and Nicolas Ebnother from the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. EBU Partnership Programe Senior Project Manager Radka Betcheva opened the event, which was chaired by former EBU Vice President, Boris Bergant. Council of Europe expert Bissera Zankova discussed standards and best practices in public service media governance with participants.

Three experts from the EBU’s Legal Department in Geneva took part in the conference via Skype, a successful first attempt at this kind of remote contribution. The Head of Regulatory Legal Services Richard Burnley presented the EBU’s new funding guidelines for public service media, followed by a talk on governance from Legal Adviser Anne-Catherine Berg. This was rounded off with a question-and-answer session including the Head of Media and Communications Law Michael Wagner.

EBU members in the South Caucasus and Eastern Europe highlighted a collection of common challenges, including the need for legal and institutional reform to be undertaken and implemented, advertising and funding for PSM, the difficulties of operating with old and obsolete technologies and equipment and the digitization of archiving. Ideas were also put forward for coproductions to save costs and enrich content.

EBU Partnership Programme Senior Project Manager Radka Betcheva says the value of events like this is that they create a forum for exchange: “Participants shared their common problems and worked through potential solutions and put together common projects. One of the best outcomes was that several ideas for co-productions and programme exchanges were put forward. The EBU will gladly facilitate putting these ideas into practice.”

“There were eight partners at this workshop – the Georgian public broadcaster GPB, the OSCE ROFM, the OSCE missions in Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Council of Europe in Ukraine, the EU Delegation in Georgia and the EBU. The logistics were very complicated but that goes to show just how much interest there is in the region for public service media. The feedback was excellent and we are already planning another event in the city of Batumi in Georgia.”