The EU in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Europe House organised the interactive workshop “EU in the Newsroom: What Makes the Story?” in Banja Luka bringing together young journalists and journalism students to explore how complex EU-related information can be turned into relevant, engaging and locally grounded news stories.
Welcoming the participants, Ferdinand Koenig, Head of Communications and Spokesperson of the EU in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said: “The EU does a lot of good for people across Bosnia and Herzegovina, remaining this country’s largest trading partner and provider of assistance, and investing in sectors as diverse as education, environmental standards, culture, motorways, and clean energy infrastructure. Because the way that EU support is delivered is usually through multimillion euro packages delivered at local level by implementing partners, communication about EU projects often focuses on strategic objectives and figures, that can seem abstract to members of the public. Nonetheless, behind major projects and programmes such as Erasmus+, EU4Business, EU4AGRI or Creative Europe there are thousands of human stories, including uplifting examples of persistence, resilience and success. These stories resonate with the public, and we are happy to support media in finding out more.”
Experienced journalists Tamara Ćuruvija and Dejan Šajinović took part in the workshop as mentors. After a discussion on finding stories in EU reports and a practical introduction to the European Commission’s Country Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, participants worked in small editorial teams on story ideas covering topics such as the environment, rule of law, youth and education, the economy and digitalisation, and pitched their headlines and local angles to the mentors for editorial feedback.
Additionally, they were introduced to media resources and contacts available at the EU Office and Europe House in an effort to continue building lasting connections between emerging journalists, established media professionals and the EU Office/Europe House, and to present EU integration not only as an institutional process, but as a source of meaningful stories about people’s lives across Bosnia and Herzegovina.
