Ro
En
Рy
The event was attended by journalists from different media outlets in Moldova, willing to improve their professional skills and learn new techniques of writing quality articles.
Timothy Large, with 20 years experience in journalism, told the participants what the narrative journalism is about, what are its key “ingredients” and why it is important.
In his view, several mandatory steps are required to write a successful article. “If you have an intriguing lead, a gold quote, a well-defined nut graph and an answer to the question “What if?”, then, no doubt, your article will be a very good one” said the expert.
Timothy Large noted that a narrative article is a very good way for the journalist to highlight his personality. “Most of the time we want to write under template, set within some patterns. By means of a narrative article, however, we can make our own voice heard. Your style must be objective, in compliance with the highest editorial standards” pointed out the English journalist, stating that an article that wants to capture the attention must have people and an exciting subject at its core.
BIRN Expert, Marija Ristic, focused on journalism in conflict situations, highlighting the limits over which a journalist should not pass. “The journalist must be as objective as possible in his/her story, avoid misinterpretations, and the words and images must fit the conflict situations”, said the expert.
On the second day, each participant practiced how to transform an idea into a feature story and received feedback from the experts Timothy Large, Marija Ristic and Marian Chiriac. The topics of the participants were the most varied: migration, problems of the health system, promotion of the rights of Roma women to join the politics, promotion of rights of textile companies’ employees working for foreign brands, the effects of hydro plants situated on the Nistru River on the population from Moldova, fight against fake news, successful stories of young people developing IT applications, promotion by the Members of Parliament of their own interests by draft laws, etc.
Journalists were encouraged to give shape and content to all of these ideas, and experts came up with suggestions and recommendations for each of them, so that the materials be as attractive as possible and capture the attention of readers. In the next stage, journalists will write articles that will be published in the international press with the support of the ‘Balkan Investigative Reporting Regional Network’ Association.
Participants appreciated the opportunity to learn new techniques for making articles, to interact with experts with extensive experience in the field of narrative journalism, and to take advantage of the opportunities created by the training, including the opportunity to write for the foreign press.
Eugen Kanskii of the Agora news portal said that “trainers usually discuss in an official manner”. “But this time we had a free discussion in which each of us had the chance to express his/her opinions, come up with suggestions and learn from each other”, said Eugen.
The training has been organized by the Independent Journalism Center in Moldova in collaboration with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Regional Network (BIRN Hub).
