IJC Agenda for January

Press freedom monitoring, training for journalists, a new issue of Mass-media in Moldova magazine: these are just a few activities to count from among those planned by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) in January 2014.
 
IJC plans to launch the second phase of the internship program for five journalists working in UTA Gagauz-Yeri offering them the possibility to learn from the experience of their fellow colleagues working for national media. Moreover, the Training and Communication Department team will meet in Tiraspol the Transnistrian journalists who completed their internships between November and December 2013 in order to discuss the results and to assess the benefits of the program for their professional activity. IJC also plans for January to publish the first monitoring report on mass-media covering of issues on minorities and socially vulnerable groups.
 
The team of the Publications and Research Department will continue to monitor press freedom in the Republic of Moldova and till the end of January it will gather all events and trends of the Year 2013 in a thorough research equivalent to “media landscape”. The publication will provide journalists and the public at large with a general overview of the condition of the Moldovan press in the frame of the Eastern Partnership. The electronic version of the analytical biannual magazine Mass-media in Moldova, issue of December 2013, is also due in January.
 
The Media Law and Policy Department will assess the availability of public bodies to provide access to public information and the challenges of journalists in accessing public data. The research will come up with viable solutions for a better communication of mass-media and public institutions whose mandate is to guarantee the access to the information of public interest.
 
Following a short winter vacation, on January 13^th the Chisinau School of Advanced Journalism (CSAJ) will resume its courses. Media management is the first course in line to introduce the students to the media business. Students will learn about the process of producing and distributing a newspaper, about the organisation and coordination of the work in broadcasting, as well as dealing with advertising and market research. All this knowledge will be provided by media directors who succeeded in developing viable businesses in this sector in Moldova.
 
Afterwards, in a two-week course on journalism on political issues, the CSAJ students will learn how to write on subjects of political actuality and will assess them from different perspectives like political communication and public opinion, civic journalism and the role of the press in a democratic society. The students will also take part in various debates with political players. Between 24 and 26 of January the students and five CSAJ graduates will participate in the Data Journalism Camp which focuses on data journalism and on the means to fights corruption. The training will be moderated by Paul Radu from RISE Project Romania, and Dumitru Lazur, a local journalist.
 
We recall that IJC provides free legal assistance to journalists and media institutions on issues related to freedom of expression, access to information and medial legislation.
 
For more details about IJC`s activities, you can also visit Media Azi's Facebook page, and www.scoaladejurnalism.md (and the Facebook page), as well as IJC`s Facebook page and group.