Professional journalists and other media makers from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Latvia are invited to join this event to practice and improve their analytical skills, learn to use innovative media tools, exchange experiences, and knowledge, expand their professional networks and contribute to building an international media and audience community.

The design of the training helps participants learn not only from guests and in-house experts but also from each other, mainly during the teamwork. The whole event will be interactive and allow everyone to put knowledge into practice and even lay foundations for new collaborations, within countries or across borders.

What participants are we looking for?

The training is open for professional journalists and other media makers from Lithuania, Slovakia, Latvia, the Czech Republic without age limit, who:

• work or intend to work on local investigations; 
• want to acquire new competencies, especially in the field of digital media/social media, journalistic ethics, and media literacy;
• have previous working experience with journalism and media making.

20 participants in total will be selected.

When and where?

The training will take place from 25 to 29 October in Trnava, Slovakia, in hotel London.

Duration: five days, including travel days – arrival on the first day before 16:00, departure on the last day after lunch (13:00).

What program can you look forward to?

The training will include workshops and discussions with inspiring experts from the field of investigative journalism and the media focused on:

• Exploring up-to-date methods, tools, and approaches in investigative journalism
• Raising competencies in data journalism, especially the use of visualizations
• Diving into media and information literacy for media creators, including journalism ethics and representation of youth and minorities in media
• Using innovative media making tools (StoryMaps, Linkurious, etc.) to create an interactive story
• Exploring online tools to effectively involve an audience in media creation
• Getting to know various international opportunities for journalists
• Developing team spirit – participants will work in teams and create media of their choice

What else is in?

• An opportunity to get engaged in long-term mentoring (up to 6 months) for the team presenting the best result at the end of the training
• Exploration of the beautiful town of Trnava called the “Slovak Rome”
• Travel costs reimbursed after the event (limit: 200 EUR)
• Accommodation, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners covered directly by the organizers

What is the deadline for submitting your application?

You can apply for the training till 8 October 2021 (23:59 CET) by using this online form. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

We are looking forward to your applications! Join the inspiring and enriching training to dive into the investigative journalism world to improve and exchange your investigative reporting know-how.

Background

The training is one of the activities of the Media4Change – Future Investigative Story Lab project, which aims to support cooperation, innovation, and professional standards in the field of investigative journalism in Lithuania and Slovakia. It’s run by the National Institute for Social Integration (Media4Change programme) from Lithuania and European Dialogue from Slovakia.

The project has been co-financed by the European Commission – DG CONNECT under the 2019 call for proposals “Media freedom and investigative journalism” (Pilot Project: Supporting investigative journalism and media freedom in the EU).

Disclaimer

The European Commission’s support for the production of this Call for participants does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views of the authors only and are their sole responsibility. The Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.