OSCE Mission supports training of Montenegro’s public broadcaster RTCG

To support Montenegro’s public service broadcaster RTCG in its ongoing process of enhancing its professionalism and digitalization, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro organized an in-house training for RTCG staff in Podgorica from 29 July to 2 August 2019 with Stephen Herrmann, the former editorial director of the BBC’s Monitoring service.

“We are very much looking forward to this project and everything we’ll do for the citizens of Montenegro: finally, they will receive quality programming,” said RTCG General Director Božidar Šundić. “Training in modern journalism is something that the public service broadcaster has been lacking. This training will help us to define the activities we need to implement in order to meet the challenges of the future, both in terms of personnel and in technical terms.”

Herrmann said that the digital transformation in news, as in many other walks of life, presents many challenges that can be really difficult, but is also exciting and offers many opportunities.

“We will explore a mixture of practical skills, know-how around technology and undertake a broader discussion with the team on how to make a more effective organization as a whole. In that spirit I will be doing a number of sessions that will include journalists and listening to their ideas, because they know this organization and the audience,” he said.

Daniel Blank, the Media Programme Manager at the OSCE Mission, said that new online tools and platforms are constantly being created. “Many of them are useful for journalists. However, often it is not so obvious to know how to utilize them in a meaningful manner. Digital skills are not only about understanding the technological side, but, more importantly, to understand the constantly changing nature of the journalist’s interaction with audiences.”