Southeast Europe: Reporting Diversity Training and Development for News Agencies

An educational course designed to assist news agencies – as influential media players distributing material to many outlets – to gain a better understanding of, and sensitivity towards, diversity-related issues.

The objective of this modest educational project was to work with the news agencies which, since they have more consumers then a single news medium, have more influence and reach. Several news agencies sent their journalists to this 4-day course: Stina (Croatia), Safax and BH Press (Bosnia), Beta, Fonet and Tajug (Serbia), Kosovalive (Kosovo), Srna (Republika Srpska), and Montena Fax (Montenegro). All of them had been providing local and regional media with news and information, developing at the same time a modest news exchange service with other news agencies from the Balkans and region-wide.
The Beta News agency established a Reporting Diversity News Exchange service providing (along with the assistance of other partners in the MDI-initiated Reporting Diversity Network) high quality articles on ethnic minorities and their human rights as well as on the other diversity-related issues (gender, children, disabled people, homosexuals, etc).

Region/country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Timeframe/dates: 2000/2001

Funder: Westminster Foundation for Democracy, The U.S. Department of State

Partners: Media Centar (Sarajevo), Center for War, Peace and the News Media (New York)