Fellows from three generations met to get to know one another and exchange professional experiences and views about the situation on the Balkan media scene.
In the relaxed atmosphere of the Montenegrin resort, the participants had an opportunity to present highlights of their work and special projects to their alumni-colleagues and inform them about important awards and scholarships they had obtained and career advances they had made in connection with the Fellowship.
Two guests from Montenegro, Daliborka Uljarevic, from the Center for Civic Education, and Mihailo Jovovic, deputy editor of the daily newspaper Vijesti, led sessions on the media scene in their country and explained how the most important issues are covered, which then initiated a broader debate about the problems of the regional media landscape as a whole.
Issues such as the impact of political and financial pressure on the media, the decline of local media, the challenge of low advertising revenues and circulations and the over-dominant role in the market of public broadcasters were recognized as joint problems that media encounter throughout the region.
The meeting will be followed up by joint work among the Fellows on regional journalistic projects with the aim of fostering not only their individual professional development but their team spirit as well, and at the same time as providing quality information about issues that are common to the region.
The initiative to hold an alumni meeting was taken following numerous expressions of interest by former Fellows in continuing to jointly contribute to the goal of promoting excellence in journalism in the Balkans.
First Balkan Fellowship Alumni Meeting in Becici
Posted onMore than 20 journalists from the Balkan region and elsewhere gathered last weekend in the coastal resort of Becici, in Montenegro, for the first Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence Alumni Meeting.