During a workshop on “Business Reporting,” held on 17-21 September at Mediacentar Sarajevo, attendants became acquainted with current economic issues, as well as relevant terminology in the area of business reporting, which will help them cover B-H’s economic steps on the road to European integration.

The five-day workshop program was based on attendants’ practical work, with special emphasis on discussions between lecturers and attendants on current economic issues. Exercises were based on daily newsroom work; every morning, participants selected newspaper articles covering the previous day’s most important economic events and analyzed them.
The workshop lecturers were: Keith Hayes, director of leading British consulting agency for media training “Irving International Limited” and former editor/producer of Reuters’ world business program “Financial Report”; Randolph Walerius, Dow Jones news editor for Europe, Middle East and Africa and former business and financial news editor for Dow Jones Newswires; and Eldar Dizdarević, editor-in-chief of business online magazine www.investitor.ba.
Attendants were acquainted with relevant financial indicators of companies such as capital assets, capital stock and total capital, long-term liabilities and short-term liabilities, earnings and expenditures, with the aim of being able to read financial reports properly.
“What was most useful for me was learning to properly read financial reports and also what information is important to use in my story. The workshop was very good and beneficial because it gave me a new approach to business reporting,” said Radana Čikić, journalist of Alternativna Televizija from Banja Luka.
Workshop attendants visited the Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASE) and the broker house FIMA, where brokers explained how trading is done on the stock exchange, how orders are entered and the value of company stock calculated, and also what kind of business information is important for brokers and analysts.
“What I found most interesting was a visit to the broker house FIMA where I understood the difference between a broker house and stock exchange, and to the Sarajevo Stock Exchange, where we talked to Zlatan Dedić, Director of SASE,” said Nihad Penava, journalist from Sarajevo.
A guest at the workshop was Džemail Vlahovljak, General Manager of “Energoinvest”, with whom attendants talked about the company’s business in Libya, Serbia and Algeria, as well as about the company’s future plans.
“I’m very pleased with the selection of workshop attendants and their engagement during the workshop. Several participants will write articles for the online business magazine www.investitor.ba,” said Eldar Dizdarević.
A second workshop on “Business Reporting” will be held on 22-26 October 2007 at Mediacentar Sarajevo.
The workshop is organized by Irving International Limited and NetNovinar - Center for Investigative Reporting and Media Education (Founders: Mediacentar Sarajevo & Investigative Journalism Center, Zagreb).
The program is funded by the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the framework of the Global Opportunities Fund.