The BBC School of Broadcast Journalism in Sarajevo opened its doors to the first students
on 24 June 1996. The 'BBC Journalism Training Programme' is a joint project between
BBC World Service Training (BBC WST), the British Government’s Department for
International Development (DfID), and the Media Centre Sarajevo.
The Media Centre Sarajevo provides the premises and the technical equipment; DfID provides
funding for the training activities; and BBC World Service Training creates, delivers and
manages the actual training programme and identifies and provides the journalism and
management trainers.
10-week Courses: To date, there have been a total of thirteen
completed ten-week courses each for radio and for television, successfully attended by 238
young journalists from all areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina: 87 from Sarajevo, 44 from
Banja Luka, 26 from Mostar, 14 from Zenica, 11 from Tuzla, 6 from Travnik, 6 from Tesanj,
5 from Bihac, 3 from Sanski Most, 3 from Prijedor, 2 from Bijelina, and 1 each from
Ilijas, Breza, Kakanj, Teslic, Kljuc, Bosanska Krupa, Stolac, Lusci Palanka, Stupari,
Doboj, Brcko, Banovici, Vitez, Cazin, Gorazde, Pale, Zvornik, Gradiska and Milici. In
addition, two journalists from Montenegro have also completed these courses.
Examinations: All journalists participating in the ten-week courses have to submit
to an examination at the end of the course; this consists of (i) a practical skills test
(production of a documentary programme), (ii) a written examination (on editorial and
writing skills as well as on relevant legal matters such as the CRA / IMC Broadcasting
Code of Practice), and (iii) a continuos assessment of news production, editorial and
practical skills throughout the courses.
Only journalists who pass these examinations receive a Certificate confirming their
successful participation in these BBC training courses.
Administrative Details: The 10-week radio courses and the 10-week television
courses are widely advertised in various newspapers; journalists wishing to participate
have to apply and are then selected in an open interviewing process. A small
Administration Fee is payable (currently: KM150.-- per participant).
Shorter Courses: Since the summer of 1998, we have organised a large number of
shorter, more specialised Courses, Seminars and Workshops, of between two days and three
weeks duration. Many of these took place at the Media Centre in Sarajevo, but we
have also provided several courses in Banja Luka, a three-week radio course in Brcko, as
well as on-station training at Federation Radio and TV in Sarajevo and at RT RS in Banja
Luka.
Some of the areas covered by these shorter courses include: Radio News Management,
News Editing, Practical Radio Journalism, News for Local Radio Stations, Senior Production
/ Digital Audio Editing, Senior Editorial Skills Radio, Senior Editorial Skills TV, Camera
Operators (Beginners) and Camera Operators (Advanced). In addition, we have provided
specialist Seminars on topics such as Local Station Management, Introduction to Practical
Audience Research, Editors as Trainers, and Reporting Crime. We also re-called
former BBC School Graduates for Advanced Radio and Advanced TV Seminars, and in
co-operation with the OSCE we delivered a number of Election Coverage Workshops for the
autumn 2000 elections, both in Sarajevo and in Banja Luka.
Some 250 BiH media professionals have so far participated in these shorter courses, from
stations in towns and cities as far apart as Banja Luka, Bihac, Bosanska Krupa, Brcko,
Livno, Milici, Mostar, Pale, Prijedor, Sapna, Sarajevo, Tesanj, Travnik, Tuzla, Vitez,
Zenica and Zvornik.
In close co-operation with the Media Centre Sarajevo, we are working with the
Journalism Faculties in Banja Luka, Mostar and Tuzla to provide practical, on-site,
broadcasting skills training for journalism students. We have concluded a pilot
phase of this training programme at all three Faculties - in Banja Luka: March
2001, in Tuzla: March/April 2001, and in Mostar: May 2001. The full training
programme has started in the autumn of 2001 with Tuzla and continued early in
2002 with Banja Luka. We hope to start the full programme in Mostar later this year.
We also provide specific on-site skills training courses for radio and
television stations, at the stations' own premises, throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina. For
this purpose, we can provide our own, state-of-the-art mobile equipment;
alternatively, training can be undertaken on a station's own equipment.
We are also able to undertake on-site management training, sales / marketing training,
commercial training, camera training, audience research training - in short: we
are able to deliver whatever training support individual stations may require.
General Policy: It is a policy of BBC World Service
Training that all trainers should be practising media professionals who are seconded for
the duration of the courses to BBC World Service Training Department. Thus, the trainers
responsible for the ten-week courses are practising radio and tv journalists, in many
cases with specific bi-media experience. Camera courses, on the other hand, are carried
out by practising and experienced camera men; management courses by experienced managers;
commercial courses by experienced commercial consultants; etc.
UK-Based Trainers: Many of our trainers come from the United
Kingdom. They are carefully selected by BBC WST to ensure that they have relevant
experience for the courses they provide in BiH. Most of them are full-time BBC
staff journalists; some of them are free-lance journalists working for the BBC on a
regular basis; and for specific courses, experts from the commercial radio and television
sector in the UK may also be selected. If a course is provided by a UK trainer, we
will use local translators / interpreters; course participants therefore do not need to
speak English.
Local Trainers: The BBC Journalism Training Programme and the
Media Centre Sarajevo now have a total of 12 experienced radio and television journalists
from Bosnia-Herzegovina on whom we can call to provide training courses.
Again, our Local Trainers are working media professionals. All of them have been
specifically trained as part of an intensive and tailor-made "Training The
Trainers" programme, delivered by BBC WST and funded by DfID. The programme
included five weeks of training in London and the UK, and three weeks of training in
Sarajevo.
Many of our Courses are delivered jointly by a UK-based trainer and a Local
Trainer. This unique approach enables course participants to benefit from
the combined experience of both British and BiH trainers. |