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BIRN Kosovo
Brezovica, November 2004
23 11 2004 Nine Roma and Ashkali journalists participated in an IWPR Primary Level Journalism Course organised by the Organisation for Cooperation and Security in Europe, OSCE, in November.
Nine Roma and Ashkali journalists participated in an IWPR Primary Level
Journalism Course organised by the Organisation for Cooperation and Security
in Europe, OSCE, in November.
In the third basic journalism course to be held by IWPR Kosovo in 2004,
the trainees underwent a week of intensive training with Jeta Xharra,
IWPR's Kosovo Project Manager and Tanja Matic, IWPR Training Coordinator.
It marked the first time that IWPR has trained journalists from outside
the Albanian and Serbian communities in Kosovo.
The aim was to enable the trainee reporters to highlight the issues facing
their communities in the local media, where their opinions and concerns
are almost never addressed.
In a busy week in the ski resort of Brezovica, 80 kilometres south-east
of Pristina, the course participants were introduced to the basics of
western-style journalism, starting with understanding the difference between
writing straight news, news analysis, features and comment.
The course was held simultaneously in Albanian and Serbian, so catering
to the needs of Albanian-speaking Ashkali and Serbian-speaking Roma.
Finding and using sources, arranging and conducting interviews, and avoiding
biased or inflammatory reporting were some of the issues that the group
tackled, using examples from the local and international media.
The training included the screening of several documentaries, guest speakers
and a day of practical fieldwork.
In their fieldwork, the trainees visited Strpce - a mainly Serbian municipality
- where they interviewed local people on the effect of the March violence
on tourism in Kosovo.
The guest speakers started with OSCE media officer Shpresa Mulliqi, who
spoke on the funding opportunities available for minority media, such
as Roma and Ashkali.
Selvije Emini, a journalist from the public broadcaster Radio Television
Kosova, RTK, talked of her work experience in its Roma section.
The trainees had many questions for Emini on how she had handled the
pressure during the March riots, when Kosovo's Roma and Ashkali communities
were attacked.
Gian Pietro Caliari, the protectorate's deputy temporary media commissioner,
spoke on the problems of media regulation in Kosovo, and Kate Schneider,
a freelance photojournalist from the United States, spoke on ways to tell
stories through pictures.
The trainees agreed on the story ideas they wished to work on, the best
of which will be published on the IWPR website.
The participants were Tahibe Ajeti; Rrahman Ajeti; Vesko Buzolli; Valon
Korrollaku; Dia Krasniqi; Sanela Memeti; Abdulla Mustafa; Sami Mustafa
and Hajrudin Skenderi.
The IWPR Primary Journalism Course programme was developed with the support
of the Amsterdam-based media development agency, Press Now.
At the beginning of 2010 BIRN network published Digging Deeper - A Guide for Investigative Journalists in the Balkans, written in cooperation with Sheila Coronel, Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor of professional practice at Columbia University, New York.
