Review: P-CRC Balkan Diskurs Youth Correspondents Training 2019

Written on November 25, 2019, posted in News, Review

© Post-Conflict Research Center

With fund­ing from the VII Academy and the VII Foundation, and train­ing sup­port by VII Agency pho­tog­ra­phers Sara Terry and Maciek Nabrdalik, the Post-Conflict Research Center held its Balkan Diskurs Youth Correspondents Training in Sarajevo in May 2019 for nine­teen Bosnian youth par­tic­i­pants from thir­teen dif­fer­ent Bosnian cities.

P-CRC orga­nized an inter­ac­tive, mul­ti­me­dia train­ing pro­gram focused on cul­ti­vat­ing par­tic­i­pants’ skills in inves­tiga­tive and cit­i­zen jour­nal­ism tech­niques. These includ­ed basic report­ing skills and pho­tog­ra­phy tech­niques, instruc­tion in con­duct­ing inter­views and iden­ti­fy­ing and ver­i­fy­ing sources and advice on how to work in a safe, respon­si­ble and eth­i­cal man­ner. One of the pri­ma­ry goals of this train­ing was to pre­pare par­tic­i­pants for a spe­cial­ized men­tor­ship pro­gram dur­ing in which they now serve as local youth cor­re­spon­dents for P-CRC’s new mul­ti­me­dia out­let Balkan Diskurs, which is an inde­pen­dent mul­ti­me­dia plat­form that pro­vides young cit­i­zen jour­nal­ists, activists and aca­d­e­mics in the Western Balkans with a space to pub­lish their opin­ions, analy­ses, and reports on issues crit­i­cal to the region.

Students with VII Photo Agency's Sara Terry.
Students with VII Photo Agency’s Sara Terry.
Part of the "My City" photo assignment that students completed when they returned home. Situated 12km southwest of Sarajevo, Ilidža has long been a close retreat for city dwellers to enjoy the thermal springs, recreation center, and lovely park at the source of River Bosna called Vrelo Bosna. The springs are accessible by car, foot, or bike. You can even get there by horse and an old carriage from the Austro-Hungarian period. © Aida Mujčin
Part of the “My City” pho­to assign­ment that stu­dents com­plet­ed when they returned home. Situated 12km south­west of Sarajevo, Ilidža has long been a close retreat for city dwellers to enjoy the ther­mal springs, recre­ation cen­ter, and love­ly park at the source of River Bosna called Vrelo Bosna. The springs are acces­si­ble by car, foot, or bike. You can even get there by horse and an old car­riage from the Austro-Hungarian peri­od. © Aida Mujčin

The train­ing course was held along­side the inau­gur­al event, “VII in Sarajevo: Festival of the Image”, which meant that stu­dents could attend pre­sen­ta­tions by VII Photo Agency pho­tog­ra­phers as well as dis­cus­sion pan­els.

Student work from the "Something Sarajevo" assignment: Local artists and street performers show off their talents to passers-by, adding to Sarajevo’s charm and intrigue. This man plays his accordion, an instrument that is commonly found in one of Bosnia’s most notable genres of folk music called Sevdalinka. Sevdalinka songs are often about love or unrequited love and are characterized by slow or moderate tempos with intense, emotional melodies. © Ibrahim Khaled Al-Zoubi
Student work from the “Something Sarajevo” assign­ment: Local artists and street per­form­ers show off their tal­ents to passers-by, adding to Sarajevo’s charm and intrigue. This man plays his accor­dion, an instru­ment that is com­mon­ly found in one of Bosnia’s most notable gen­res of folk music called Sevdalinka. Sevdalinka songs are often about love or unre­quit­ed love and are char­ac­ter­ized by slow or mod­er­ate tem­pos with intense, emo­tion­al melodies. © Ibrahim Khaled Al-Zoubi
Located in Sarajevo’s Old Town, Baščaršija square is a place lined with restaurants that serve local cuisine and shops filled with traditional Bosnian handicrafts, clothing, decorative ceramics, art, and souvenirs. Also known as “Pigeon Square”, it is also the location of one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks, the Sebilj fountain. © Mladen Topić
Located in Sarajevo’s Old Town, Baščaršija square is a place lined with restau­rants that serve local cui­sine and shops filled with tra­di­tion­al Bosnian hand­i­crafts, cloth­ing, dec­o­ra­tive ceram­ics, art, and sou­venirs. Also known as “Pigeon Square”, it is also the loca­tion of one of the city’s most rec­og­niz­able land­marks, the Sebilj foun­tain. © Mladen Topić