First Round of Professional Training for TV Journalists Ends

On April 13 the first round of the professional training, held with the participation of representatives of the Georgian regional TV companies, came to an end in Tbilisi.

The workshop was held within the EU-funded project Supporting Media Monitoring being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Ambassador Philip Dimitrov, Head of the EU Delegation to Georgia, Jamie McGoldrick, UNDP Resident Representative in Georgia and Oliver Reisner, European Union Delegation to Georgia attended the closing ceremony held at Hotel Betsy's.

Independent and balanced media, said Philip Dimitrov, is one of the prerequisites of democracy.

Head of the EU Delegation to Georgia pointed out that 18 months are not enough for fundamental changes in media monitoring but hopefully the final task is being approached step by step. According to the Ambassador investigative journalism needs to be developed in the country and journalists start applying techniques which implies unbiased reporting.

Active role of media makes it interesting, and when media is passive, it produces no results, Ambassador pointed out.

The workshop, said Jamie McGoldrick, UNDP Resident Representative in Georgia said, is a part of a huge program called the development of democracy in Georgia.

"It's important to me," said Jamie McGoldrick, "that the workshop is being attended by the representatives of regional media. I would like to stress that media in Georgia is at the initial stage, therefore I am happy the workshop is being conducted by the lady [Assia Shihab], one of the world's leaders in news reporting, I hope you are going to apply this experience that will be conducive to the development of democracy in Georgia," said UNDP Resident Representative.

Assia Shihab represents Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Seven rounds of the training to be delivered to regional TVs is will be organised from April to November 2011. Up to 50 journalists of regional televisions will be taking part in the trainings. The training topics include news reporting, investigative journalism, ethical standards, media legislation and acess to information.