Situation in BiH is very similar to the one in Moldavia and for that
reason getting familiar with the BiH experiences was very important for us. It
is fascinating that, in spite of the terrible war, the journalists and media
from BiH continue to work on mutual cooperation and connecting, and promote
ideas on common Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is just one of the conclusions of
the Moldavian journalists who visited media organisations and NGOs in BiH from
19 to 24 June.
Nine Moldovan journalists from the Transnistria region and elsewhere in the
Republic of Moldavia came for a study visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 19th
to 24th June 2006, as part of the project “Building the conflict-resolution
capacity of journalists from Gagauzia, Transnistria and other Moldovan
regions“,. During their stay they visited the BiH Press Council, PBS BiH, Radio
“Studio 88” and the Nansen Dialogue Centre in Mostar, “Nezavisne novine” and
Radio-television of Republika Srpska (RTRS) in Banja Luka, “BH Dani” magazine
and Helsinki Human Rights Committee in Sarajevo. The aim of the study visit was
to introduce the journalists to how the BiH media have advanced the process of
mutual cooperation, understanding and communication.
Transnistria has been a self-proclaimed republic since 1990,
formed by a conflict between the separatists and troops of the central
authorities. Since that time, the regions of the Republic of Moldavia and the
Transnistria region have been strongly politically divided, and another aim of
this project was to connect journalists from these Moldavian
regions. “The media outlets we visited presented in an excellent
way the idea of moving forward, as well as how to reconstruct the war and
resolve conflict. Moldavian journalists were able to place a large portion of
this situation in their own context, while lack of sufficiently developed
mechanisms which would allow to move ahead remains one of their great problems.
The fact that Moldavian journalists are here, together and talking, is a big
step for Moldavia”, says Natalia Angheli- Zaicenco, representative of the Centre
for independent journalism from Kishnev.
One of the journalists, Eugen Urusciuc, Director of the “DECA” news
agency, says it was a big deal for him that, during the five day visit to BiH,
he had had an opportunity to talk to his colleagues from Transnistria.
Journalists from the Republic of Moldavia share the view that, despite the
war, the BiH journalists cooperate and find ways to overcome the consequences of
war, divisions and hatred. They agree the experiences from this study visit will
be very useful for their future work. Upon returning to their home media
outlets, Moldavian journalists will publish a series of newspaper articles on
their experiences from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I’m going back to my country greatly inspired and I think I’ve got a lot of
material for writing”, states Inna Russu, a journalist from the “Pridnestrovie”
daily.
The organizers of the study trip were the Centre for independent journalism
from Kishnev and the NetNovinar-Centre for investigative reporting and media
education (of the Mediacentar Sarajevo and the Centre for investigative
journalism, Zagreb).