Big Dreams for Moldovan Local TV Reporters

Olga Şoltoianu, who has a background in economics, has been working for VTV for four months. Galina Căinăreanu, working in both radio and television at Media TV, has a degree in foreign languages. Greta Alexei, a high school graduate, has been working for Sor TV for four years. Ina Comarovschi, with a pedagogical background, has been working for TV Elita for three months. Ina Ţurcanu has been working for Drochia TV for a month.

These are all different people but they have one thing in common; every day they work for a television station and they all have the desire to become real media professionals at the AICI Network. In order to help them reach their goals, the Media Program in Moldova held a training for AICI Network reporters on June 26 and 27, 2010 on “Producing TV Newscasts and Reports” to help improve reporters’ skills of writing stories in a unique and professional manner. Prior to the training, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) assessed the training needs of the participating journalists and prepared the workshop to address those needs.

At the workshop, the reporters learned how to write a TV news story, from selection to final editing. The trainees received assignments, wrote news story titles, leads and news stories under the guidance of trainer Liliana Barbăroşie. When asked by the trainees what would make a news story successful, she said that any success first of all required hard work and the desire to be the best. “Learning the general news writing standards and applying them daily in the field will help you become professionals,” Liliana Barbăroşie added. The reporters were given timed assignments simulating what it is like to work in a newsroom under tight deadlines. They confessed that that exercise was the hardest for them but it was very useful. “Although it was a simulation and I did not risk getting in trouble with my boss for not delivering the story on time, I was very nervous. I learned a lot of things about working in this rhythm,” said Olesea Pasat from VTV in Ungheni. Participating reporters were also led through the process of creating a feature TV story. “If news stories are based on facts, feature stories are based on personal accounts, therefore the success of a report depends to a large extent on the author’s skill recounting details,” Liliana Barbăroşie said. Trainees analyzed a number of feature reports to help them better understand what goes into a quality story.

This workshop was especially important for the participants as they all hold responsibility in helping build the quality of programming for the IREX supported AICI Network and its jointly produced weekly feature program “Trasee.” ”I am sure that our “Trasee” will be more interesting from now on, and the reports will be more professional,” Ecaterina Ţurcanu from TV Elita said.

Reporters encounter multiple problems every day while trying to put together accurate, unbiased, and interesting stories. Even the most seasoned media professionals need assistance from time to time. For the young reporters who participated in the IJC workshop, this assistance is even more important. Many of them, like Olga Şoltoianu, Galina Căinăreanu, Greta Alexei, Ina Comarovschi, and Ina Turcanu have had no formal journalism training at all and yet want nothing more than to be good reporters and bring important information to the people in Moldova. They may not always be able to do the job perfectly, but during this workshop these local TV station reports enjoyed the same success as experienced journalists producing professional news.

This training course was organized by Independent Journalism Center (IJC), as part of the Media Program in Moldova, implemented by the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

“In my three year experience as reporter at Media TV from Cimislia, the work within the AICI Network is the most productive because we have managed to produce a common product – the newscast and the “Trasee” program. I think that the audience’s interest in the local TV stations has also increased since we have been broadcasting these two programs. I am glad that before broadcasting these media products we were trained by real professionals.” - Rodica Matei.