Journalists’ development programme
Residential schools for Armenian and Azerbaijani media professionals
The journalists’ development programme was aimed at mid-career, mainstream journalists who report on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict. It was delivered through a series of residential schools for Armenian and Azerbaijani media professionals, including some from Nagorny Karabakh.
The schools included masterclasses by international media experts and training in ethical reporting and conflict journalism. Also included were comparative study programmes looking at conflicts in Northern Ireland and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As well as developing their professional skills, the schools allowed journalists from different communities to interact and to discuss issues around peacebuilding. The objective for this approach was to establish informal networks among journalists, who can in turn influence public discourse in their communities.
A group of about 20 journalists were selected based on their motivation to engage in peacebuilding activities, their access to wide audiences and recommendations from partners and colleagues from across the conflict divide.
This project sowed the seeds for further, ongoing work with journalists in the region, which continues to this day. These include the Unheard Voices and Trajectories projects.
Photograph by Vaghinak Ghazaryan
