Training

Training for journalism teachers in Kosovo

The AFP Foundation organised a four-week training workshop from November 5 to December 2, 2007, at the new Kosovo Media Institute in Pristina.

About 25 journalists took part in courses run by six trainers in print, radio and television reporting. Instruction was in English, through Albanian and Serb speaking interpreters.

The participants were chosen from among a large number of potential candidates for teaching positions at the Institute. The workshop was therefore designed in part to train future trainers in the theory and practice of journalism.

In the morning sessions the participants divided into four groups for training on specific themes: media law, ethics and professional conduct, European integration, economic and financial reporting, science and the environment, investigative journalism, conflict reporting and interview techniques.

In the afternoons, they regrouped into three sections for training in text, radio and video reporting. These sessions involved mainly practical exercises and were especially useful since legislative elections were held in Kosovo in the very middle of the programme, on November 17.

One participant, Mustafa Balje, spoke for everyone when he said:

I think it's a good experience for us. Many things we've learnt about legislation and journalism in Europe are useful because we are in transition. Sometimes journalists have to be like acrobats here, we have to know about everything and cover all kinds of experiences in different communities."