Media training helps lobby for Kosovo Roma and Ashkali
Smaller communities to voice their interests
Like other minorities in Kosovo, Roma and Ashkali don't enjoy the same standard of living as the majority of Kosovo's population. Often marginalized and discriminated against, most of them live more or less isolated in informal settlements with insecure housing arrangements and inadequate access to basic services. Major concerns for them are unemployment, lack of access to education and an overall poor economic situation.
In November 2004, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting organized a journalism training course for young Roma and Ashkali. The course aimed to upgrade the quality of journalism in smaller communities and to raise awareness about living conditions. Information on Roma and Ashkali is limited in Kosovo and the media coverage often fails to represent their communities' interests.
Taibe is Ashkali and works for Radio Vizion. She says that there are few journalists among members of her community but she's convinced that there will be more in the future, especially with further opportunities like this one. "The training was very good for me," she says. "I learned a lot of things that are important for the future journalist and I'm very happy I could participate."
Focus on print journalism
The four-day course gave young participants an opportunity to learn the basics of journalism and journalistic ethics, and most importantly, how to sell their stories. Most participants had limited journalistic experience and the opportunity to improve their skills was invaluable.
The course targeted print journalism - something with which participants had no previous experience. The training course offered theoretical and practical workshops focusing on how to write news and feature articles for the newspapers.
"The course is a great idea," says Hajrudin Skenderi who works for Radio Kontakt in Prishtine/Pristina. He has more experience in radio journalism than the other participants. He thinks that the course needs to be more comprehensive and that basic journalistic skills may not be enough. "A journalist can't become professional in a few days. It takes more than that to write a good story for professional media."
Getting published in the papers
Participants volunteered to write about their community on a regular basis. They are expected to produce articles tackling their communities' problems, increasing public knowledge about Roma and Ashkali in Kosovo and raising awareness about their living conditions, concerns and culture.
Sunshine - a local non-governmental organization (NGO) that helped implement the training project - will monitor and co-ordinate the journalists' work. Together with the OSCE, it will maintain contact with local media to help the articles get published. It is also part of the plan to develop a network of trained young journalists and media outlets and create an internship programme where young Roma and Askali can gain practical experience in media. It would also allow them to begin building contacts for future employment.
The main obstacles the journalists face are a lack of facilities and computers for their work as well as limited means of transportation to carry out assignments. It is hoped that these problems will be addressed by appointing a spokesperson from the NGO Sunshine to represent their interests.
Like other minorities in Kosovo, Roma and Ashkali don't enjoy the same standard of living as the majority of Kosovo's population. Often marginalized and discriminated against, most of them live more or less isolated in informal settlements with insecure housing arrangements and inadequate access to basic services. Major concerns for them are unemployment, lack of access to education and an overall poor economic situation.
In November 2004, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting organized a journalism training course for young Roma and Ashkali. The course aimed to upgrade the quality of journalism in smaller communities and to raise awareness about living conditions. Information on Roma and Ashkali is limited in Kosovo and the media coverage often fails to represent their communities' interests.
Taibe is Ashkali and works for Radio Vizion. She says that there are few journalists among members of her community but she's convinced that there will be more in the future, especially with further opportunities like this one. "The training was very good for me," she says. "I learned a lot of things that are important for the future journalist and I'm very happy I could participate."
Focus on print journalism
The four-day course gave young participants an opportunity to learn the basics of journalism and journalistic ethics, and most importantly, how to sell their stories. Most participants had limited journalistic experience and the opportunity to improve their skills was invaluable.
The course targeted print journalism - something with which participants had no previous experience. The training course offered theoretical and practical workshops focusing on how to write news and feature articles for the newspapers.
"The course is a great idea," says Hajrudin Skenderi who works for Radio Kontakt in Prishtine/Pristina. He has more experience in radio journalism than the other participants. He thinks that the course needs to be more comprehensive and that basic journalistic skills may not be enough. "A journalist can't become professional in a few days. It takes more than that to write a good story for professional media."
Getting published in the papers
Participants volunteered to write about their community on a regular basis. They are expected to produce articles tackling their communities' problems, increasing public knowledge about Roma and Ashkali in Kosovo and raising awareness about their living conditions, concerns and culture.
Sunshine - a local non-governmental organization (NGO) that helped implement the training project - will monitor and co-ordinate the journalists' work. Together with the OSCE, it will maintain contact with local media to help the articles get published. It is also part of the plan to develop a network of trained young journalists and media outlets and create an internship programme where young Roma and Askali can gain practical experience in media. It would also allow them to begin building contacts for future employment.
The main obstacles the journalists face are a lack of facilities and computers for their work as well as limited means of transportation to carry out assignments. It is hoped that these problems will be addressed by appointing a spokesperson from the NGO Sunshine to represent their interests.