OSCE Presence trains Albanian public broadcaster on election reporting

News editors and journalists of the Albanian public broadcaster are being trained on election reporting in a three-day intensive course that started on 21 April 2015 in Tirana.

The training course organized by the OSCE Presence in Albania in co-operation with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Albanian Radio and Television (RTSH) and the Eurovision Academy takes place two months ahead of the local elections.

“In addition to helping ensure more professional, unbiased and balanced election reporting, the aim of this training is also to induce a shift from transmission of political statements to reports focused on problems of local communities,” said OSCE Presence Media Development Officer Vojislav Raonic.

The course will focus on the role and responsibilities of election reporters, the functioning of election administration bodies, new administrative-territorial division, as well as on how to reflect the interest of citizens in the election coverage.

Part of the training will be dedicated to the recent amendments to the Electoral Code, which stipulate that half of the candidates for municipal councillors should be women and the OSCE/ODIHR recommendation that the public broadcaster could consider actively promoting women’s participation by providing women candidates with greater news coverage.

The training is part of the efforts of the OSCE Presence in Albania to support further development of the Albanian Radio and Television as an editorially independent, sustainable and accountable public service broadcaster. Earlier in the year the OSCE Presence and the EBU delivered a five-day training course on impartiality in news coverage for RTSH editors and reporters.