TSA along with Goethe Institut Bulgaria and Southeast Europe Media Program by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation organized the intercultural journalism seminar Media Incubator. One of the goals was to facilitate dialogue between people interested in journalism, students enrolled in journalism and other social sciences, on the one hand, and renowned lecturers and professionals in the field, on the other. Together they explored different aspects of the journalist profession and looked for ways to encourage а more positive attitude towards minorities among the general public. Not only did the project set a goal to introduce the participants to the many dimensions of journalism but also to encourage reporters to cover minority-related topics with a better understanding.
Among the main topics of the seminar were: media ethics and tendencies in media coverage of minorities, narrative techniques, fact-checking, entrepreneurship in journalism, media law and investigative journalism.
Deniza Sergeeva from the Goethe Institut and Dobrina Trifonova from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation provided a diverse program with various lecturers, which corresponded to the variety of participants in different fields and interests in journalism.
Diyan Donkov introduced the participants to two studies conducted by the Integro Association about the tendencies of covering the experiences of Roma people both in print and in electronic media. Diyan is a young lawyer in the program “Legal Incubator” financed by TSA and implemented by the non-profit organization “Initiative for Equal Opportunities”. Valeri Lekov talked about his career path in journalism and shared some techniques in narrating life stories. Valeri is a journalist in the BNR radio program Hristo Botev and the regional coordinator of the Southwest region for the project “Every Student Can Be a Winner – 2”, financed by TSA and implemented by CIDT Amalipe. Among the other lecturers were Angel Petrov – international news editor for “Dnevnik”, Asma Abidi – freelance journalist and DW correspondent, Kristina Baxanova PhD – chief international news editor of bTV , Cvetelina Sokolova – “Mediapool” journalist, Panayot Stefanov – editor of “Nula32” magazine, Emil Georgiev – lawyer (Reguligence) and Dimitar Stoyanov – journalist at “Bivola”.
The seminar opened with a keynote by Christoph Eichhorn – Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bulgaria, Marina Ludeman – Director of the Goethe Institut Bulgaria, Hendrik Zitich – director of the Media Program for Southeast Europe of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Ognyan Isaev – director of the Educational Opportunities and Achievements program at TSA.
“The topic of integration of minorities is extremely important for every European community. That is why representatives of minority groups should also work in media”, said Ambassador Eichhorn.
“We have experience in Germany which we can share about including members of minority groups as professionals in the media”, Mr. Zitich shared.
“We have a responsibility towards minorities. Our work will carry on in the future”, Mrs. Ludeman pointed out.
“TSA supports various initiatives for reducing poverty and overcoming gaps in education and market activity of people from economically vulnerable communities. Our focus are Roma people, two thirds of whom live in poverty. We aim to provide an equal opportunity for everyone because we believe that anyone would act responsibly provided an equal chance at development. For us it’s important that the challenges, the blissful moments of success, the learned lessons, values, the culture and whole journey of the people and their communities which we support, reach our audience who don’t know them personally, in a bonding and engaging manner through the newspaper, radio, TV, blog, vlog etc. Because the more we bond, the more we get to know each other. And when we get to know each other, trust is build in creating a united future for Bulgaria. “I believe that each one of you will receive something from this meeting but will also share a part of themselves with the rest,” Ognyan Isaev addressed the participants with these words.
At TSA we believe that professional standards are a vital element of every media product and the ethical norms should never become а thing of the past because they are what keeps humanity alive in journalism. Having a respectful approach which is also understanding of human dignity, culture and social status is a vital part of journalism.
What is in society’s interest and what interests society are two separate things. It is not enough to have different perspectives in a journalistic text, these should also have substance. It’s always more pleasant when stories provoke critical curiosity, empathy and constructive involvement in the reader, listener and spectator – without degrading or embarrassing the characters or instigating hatred.
The reasons for social change – positive or negative, are always complex and it is almost always impossible to point out one or two major factors because that would be a divergence from the truth.
All journalistic texts express certain values. Every title and message project the situation in a subjective way. People are subject to emotions and that’s normal. However, emotions shouldn’t overcome facts. Yet facts are complex as well – their selection shows both one’s quest for objectivity as well as their opinion regarding a given situation, story or the main character’s personality.
Goethe Institut Bulgaria provided each participant with a designer mask. The masks themselves were made by women with low income from Plovdiv for a project by National Alliance for Work with Volunteers, financed by TSA in the beginning of the pandemic.