Western Balkans
Media for Change

Route to Resilient and Efficient Media
in the Western Balkans

Date: 12th – 15th November, 2024
Venue: hotel Panoramika, Skopje

Tuesday, 12th November 2024

Arrival of participants throughout the day

20:00 – Welcome reception/dinner at Cresha Bar, Skopje

Wednesday, 13th November 2024

09:00 – 09:15 – Welcome notes by:

Daniel Fieller, Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy Skopje
Milka Domanović, BIRN’s Regional Director
Larisa Halilović, Team Leader at Western Balkans Media for Change project

09:15 – 10:00 – Speed dating session, Larisa Halilović, Team Leader at Western Balkans Media for Change project

Wellbeing of Journalists in the Western Balkans

Trainer: Emma Thomasson, The Self-Investigation Foundation

10:00 – 11:30 – Stress, burnout and other mental health hazards for journalists

Introduction to the workshop and get to know each other;
Learning how chronic stress can lead to burnout;
Understanding warning signs of burnout;
Dealing with online harassment.

11:30 – 11:45 – Coffee break

11:45 – 13:30 – Building resilience: how to better look after yourself and your colleagues

Tools for improving resilience;
Learning how you can better look after yourself and your colleagues;
Tips and practices for setting and communicating boundaries;
The power of affirming values for resilience.

13:30 – 14:30 – Lunch

14:30 – 15:30 – Improving team communication, managing conflict

Common communication pitfalls;
Learning about different styles of conflict management.

15:30 – 15:45 – Coffee break

15:45 – 17:00 – Managing conflict continued

Exploring a relationship you would like to improve;
A new perspective on team dynamics.

19:00 – 20:00 – Dinner at the hotel

Thursday, 14th November 2024

Presentation of The Global Index on Responsible AI (GIRAI)

Presenter: Ivana Jeremić, BIRN’s Digital Rights Programme Content Lead and GIRAI Southeast Europe Research Team Leader

09:00 – 10:00 – How did countries in the region score on GIRAI?

Presentation of the main findings of GIRAI in the countries of the region.
How did the research process look?
What were the biggest challenges?
What will the next cycle look like?

AI use in Newsrooms – From Idea to Implementation

Trainer: Damjan Dano, Tech entrepreneur

10:00 – 10:45 – Introduction to AI in journalism

Brief history of AI;
Learning the key terms;
Examples of AI tools in journalism today;
Discussion: Does AI really increase efficiency and can it benefit all participants?
Q&A session: Personal examples, fears and AI rumours.

10:45 – 11:00 – Coffee break

11:00 – 12:00 – AI use cases and best practices in media

Types of AI use cases;
Case studies: How major newsrooms have integrated AI;
Identifying low-hanging fruit;
Workshop: Brainstorming specific tasks for a media outlet that could benefit from AI automation or augmentation;
Each group presents their top use case.

12:00 – 13:00 – How to really implement AI in your newsroom

Researching AI tools and solutions (finding the right tools for the job);
Piloting and testing AI systems;
Training the team (building competence to use AI tools effectively);
Evaluating and iterating on AI tools;
Understanding AI’s limitations and the role of human oversight;
Group exercise (all participants) create a mock AI implementation plan.

13:00 – 14:00 – Lunch

14:00 – 14:45 – Ethical considerations & challenges

Fake news: AI can produce huge numbers of fake news very well;
Bias in AI;
Automation vs. Journalism;
Content production: Transparency and AI;
Legal and copyright issues when using AI for content creation;
Ethical dilemmas.

14:45 – 15:30 – AI Tools Demo & Hands-On Practice

Tools for content generation;
Tools for data-driven journalism;
Tools for transcription and language translation;
Live demo of 2-3 tools.

15:30 – 16:00 – Q&A and wrap up

Recap the main points: Idea generation, the AI roadmap, ethical considerations;
Open floor for final questions;
Provide resources (links to AI tools, case studies, articles) for further learning.

16:00 – 16:15 – Coffee break

16:15 – 17:00 – When engagement journalism leads to impact – success stories presented by participants in the Western Balkans Media for Change project

20:00 – Dinner at the restaurant Chardak, Skopje

Friday, 15th November 2024

Departure of participants throughout the day

Western Balkans Media for Change