It’s time to relax at the rustic Sophieneck restaurant after a long day. The young financial journalists from Southeast Europe gather at the tables after a sightseeing bus tour of Berlin. There is little to remind them of the crowds at the Brandenburg Gate, where the Day of German Unity is being celebrated on this 3 October 2009. Nevertheless, the cheerful atmosphere in the city has impressed the 31-year-old radio journalist Milica Milovanovic from Serbia. She’s taking part in the journalists’ programme entitled “Economic and Political Reporting from Southeast Europe” that the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Thomson Reuters Foundation have been organizing for financial journalists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia since 2007.
The two-week courses are held twice a year taking the twelve journalists to London, Brussels, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin. In two days the participants will return to Frankfurt where they will pay a concluding visit to the European Central Bank. In Berlin their agenda includes talks at the Federal Foreign Office and the Berlin office of the Robert Bosch Foundation. The main focus of all the meetings is financial and economic policy. It’s an intense programme and the first week in London was particularly tough. “But we’re a strong group,” says Milica Milovanovic from the nationwide station RTS Radio Beograd with a smile. The programme aims to improve knowledge – especially among young journalists – about political and economic themes through training courses and discussions with representatives from the fields of politics, economics and finance as well as the media. In this way the courses can contribute towards “a higher level of information among the Southeast European public,” says the Robert Bosch Foundation. The courses cover contents and further journalistic training on the effects of the economic crisis, currency stability and the relationship between the European Union and neighbouring countries. The journalistic part of the course is carried out by coaches from the Thomson Reuters news agency. Time and again the Bosch Foundation’s project manager Lisa Heemann has heard praise for the programme from editors-in-chief and presenters who agree that “there’s a need for good financial journalists during the crisis.”
Jeton Musliu from the Express daily newspaper in Kosovo is also concerned with this subject. He has to explain to his readers how the huge economic transformation functions in various countries and what kinds of snags are involved, for instance in privatization. The 29-year-old journalist says the programme is helping him to weigh up and evaluate information. He says there are many companies in Kosovo that want to invest, but it’s not always easy to assess the intentions of enterprises. Musliu adds that during a writing session one of the Reuters coaches deliberately used false information in order to demonstrate how important it is to do thorough background research. A lot of the talks with representatives of banks and business are conducted as background information. But the course is still very much “hands-on training” with a combination of case studies, writing and research. The Bosch Foundation also wants to promote greater networking among the young journalists from Southeast Europe. Milica Milovanovic, who first studied law before she entered journalism, has already learned a great deal about the economies of her neighbouring countries. She says the country profiles, which are part of the training, have helped as well. “And above all, I now know who I can phone when I have a question.” Information on financial policy and EU topics play an important role, she explains, because after all, becoming members of the European Union is the main hope that many people share in the countries of Southeast Europe.
