Conducted during the tense spring and summer of 2001, this project aimed to bring together journalists from different ethnic groups, and to train them in coverage of diversity-related issues. The cross-ethnic team worked together on a series of articles.
The trainer and the journalists would use as their core training material an MDI reporting diversity manual in both Albanian and Macedonian languages. (MDI already had a Macedonian version – an Albanian translation was produced under this grant). The objective of the course was to enable journalists coming from different ethnic backgrounds to understand that there is always a common ground, a basic human interest which put people together regardless of their nationality, religion or ethnicity.
Over 10 days a team of 10 journalists produced a series of articles, six of which were published in the journalists’ newspapers. Considering the circumstances at that time – the tense spring and summer of 2001 – MDI considers this a significant success. (At one point the funder was discussing with us a possible cancellation of the event altogether because of the increase in inter-ethnic conflict, but together we went ahead after taking local advice).
Region/country: Macedonia
Timeframe/dates: 2001
Funder: IREX
Partners: Macedonian Institute for Media (Skopje)
