Since June 2010, Transitions has been implementing Reporting the Environment in Serbia, a training project for journalists covering issues related to the environment. Donor: The project is co-financed by the European Union within the ‘Strengthening Serbia-EU Civil Society Dialogue’ Project, which is managed by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia and implemented by GOPA Consultants.

The project is implemented in partnership with the Novi Sad School of Journalism, BEZK, the Prague-based publisher of Ekolist.cz, and Ekopolis, a Niš-based NGO dedicated to promoting better coverage of the environment in Serbian media. The training combines distance learning, seminar instruction and work on concrete stories in the field.

Objectives

This project’s overall objective is to raise the standards of reporting on the environment by the media in Serbia in the context of the country’s aspiration to join the European Union. The project’s main specific objective, which we believe will directly address the problem of inadequate coverage of the environment in the Serbian media, is to provide a group of twelve journalists from different parts of Serbia with a year-long training program that will equip them with knowledge, skills and contacts aimed at enabling them to report on environmental issues in the context of the country’s EU bid with confidence and in a competent and engaging manner.

The project primarily targets early-career journalists who have already started reporting on the environment and EU integration issues. Editors of Serbian media outlets, environmental activists and government practitioners in this field are two other target groups of this effort. They will take part in the final day of the seminar described bellow and will be key contact points during implementation of the project’s other components, providing them with first-hand insight into problems that journalists covering the environment face.

Project Activities

An online distance learning course about reporting environmental issues, understanding science, and journalistic investigation techniques was created for this project, using the BBC iLearn distance learning platform. Modules created by the BBC World Service Trust and the Guardian Foundation were adapted for this course.

22 journalists from all parts of Serbia were enrolled in the online course in September 2010, with eleven completing it the following month with the highest mark (“distinction”) and a further five completing the course with a “pass.”

The twelve best participants took part in a training seminar in Novi Sad on 23, 24 and 25 November 2010, with trainers from Serbia, the Czech Republic and the U.K. Along with instruction and exercises for the twelve trainees, the event featured a roundtable discussion on the state of media coverage of the environment in Serbia, with key stakeholders from Serbia civil society, academia and media taking part.

Between December 2010 and March 2011, the trainees will take part in a series of reporting assignments with trainers. The resulting content will be published on the project’s own website and publications in Serbia as well as in Transitions magazine.

A group of the most active participants will attend an international course on environmental journalism organized by Transitions in February 2011 in Prague.

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