Europe

Media Support Programme - Bulgaria

Bulgaria is going through a wide range of reforms and changes related to the process of EU Accession – the country is scheduled to join the European Union in January 2007. As part of the EU’s pre-accession support to Bulgaria, this EU PHARE programme aims to strengthen the independence of Bulgaria’s media and bring journalistic practices closer in line with European standards.

In partnership with expert organisations drawn from across Europe, the Trust has been running a comprehensive media capacity building programme since January 2004. The programme has already established a voluntary Code of Journalistic Ethics, the first ever in the history of Bulgaria.

The Code was introduced at a public ceremony attended by the President of Bulgaria, the Prime Minister, and the Speaker of the Parliament in November 2004; it has since been signed by more than 80 media outlets and organizations.

The Code will be administered through a National Council for Journalistic Ethics which was formally registered in August 2005 – it consists of two Complaints Commissions: one for the print media, one for the electronic media. In both Commissions, employers and journalists are represented equally.

The programme is also initiating reform of media human resource management policies, familiarizing Bulgarian media managers with modern human resource policies and practices.

The HR programme is being complemented by extensive, countrywide skills training courses for more than 300 mid-career journalists.

As part of the modernization programme, the Trust is working closely with the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communications at Sofia University. The aim is to support their efforts to modernize the curriculum and their teaching methods, and to create a network of journalism faculties across Bulgaria.

This has been facilitated by providing "Curriculum Scholarships" for faculty members to attend various European journalism colleges in order to research how journalism is taught, and to identify what can be successfully transferred to support the faculty in Sofia. Eight lecturers and professors visited European universities and colleges; a further seven lecturers participated in a tailor-made curriculum modernization programme in London.

iLearn, the on-line training system developed by the World Service Trust, forms a key component of on-going training. This has already led to a website in Bulgarian and English  http://www.mediacenterbg.org/phare-bbc  which is being used in-country to share information with trainers, trainees and other partners working on the project, but also to keep the public informed about the project and to ensure the largest possible degree of transparency.

The European Centre for Broadcast Journalism

The European Centre for Broadcast Journalism, based in Belgrade, has been in operation for more than a year. It aims to improve the standards and independence of the regional media by training broadcast journalists in Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo.

It has a digitally equipped centre, complete with full radio and television studios, as well as having the capability to train across the region, using portable equipment. The €2.6 million project is being managed and implemented by the BBC in co-operation with Radio Netherlands Training Centre. It is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.