Armenian journalists and experts to search together for constructive solutions

The EU Media Facility Lab media outreach and capacity-building initiative is taking place in Yerevan on 17-19 March. It is organised by the EU-funded regional communication programme ‘EU NEIGHBOURS EAST’ in cooperation with the ‘European Media Facility in Armenia’ project, funded by the European Union and led by DW Akademie.

The initiative kicked off on 17 March with a welcoming speech from the EU Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin.

The three-day training on constructive journalism ‘Moving Beyond the Blame Game’, led by DW Akademie expert Fahmim Ferdous, will also host 11 EU-funded projects that will present their activities at the training in an elevator speech format.

The first day was opened by the EU Ambassador in Armenia Andrea Wiktorin. She said that the EU-funded projects in Armenia bring significant impact to areas such as independent media, human rights, environmental protection, and support for young people and SMEs. 

“They implement effective solutions for various social issues to improve people’s lives. Meanwhile, professional journalists working for independent media outlets serve their communities by providing valuable, impartial, and verified information. The EU, civil society organisations, and media contribute to small steps towards a better future for Armenia,” said Andrea Wiktorin. “This event has the potential to lay the foundation for future cooperation between civil society organisations, expert communities, and the media. Working together will strengthen Armenia and create a better future for everyone.”

On the first day of training, journalists discussed the state of journalism in Armenia and negativity in the news, learned the basics of constructive journalism and were introduced to EU-funded projects, which prepared short presentations on their activities.

In the next two days, journalists will deepen their knowledge on constructive journalism tools in storytelling: constructive interviewing, editing, framing, pitching, and how to visualise a story. As a result of the course, journalists will discover the potential of constructive stories, inspiring people to rethink their approaches, providing solutions and encouraging actions.

Participants will also get acquainted with EU-funded projects in Armenia aimed at environmental protection, regional and economic development, inclusion and youth empowerment, learn about solutions they offer to the local communities, and the achieved results.

Projects participating in the EU Media Facility Lab include Towards Inclusive Armenia, EU4Sevan, EU Green Agriculture Initiative in Armenia, Mayors for Economic Growth, Creative Accelerator Programme (CAP), Enhancing economic development of Ijevan, Lead4Shirak, Enhancing private sector-led economic growth in Dilijan and adjacent communities, EU4Environment: Green community – resilient future, LEAD4Lori and Tavush,and the Young European Ambassadors.

After the training, participants can apply for a production support scheme from EU NEIGHBOURS EAST, which aims to enable journalists to create constructive journalism stories about EU-funded initiatives of their choice.