Hendrik Sittig, Head of the Media Programme South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, opened the workshop. “Journalism is first and foremost a craft that has to be learned,” he said. “The work of journalists is of enormous importance in a democracy. Bulgaria needs serious journalists, who know what quality journalism means."
In the first panel the focus was on storytelling. Prof. Dessislava Boshnakova from the New Bulgarian University, Sofia spoke about the extraordinary importance of emotions. To captivate the interest of the readers is one of the most challenging tasks of every journalist. Emotions are the alpha and omega, but people are also in the limelight. A story lives from its protagonists and their emotions. A story can be told in many different ways, but it is important to find the right perspective and let the reader feel the emotions of the protagonists.
Yvo Bojkov, anchor of the programme “Bulgaria live” on Eurocom TV, emphasised that personal curiosity is crucial in the journalistic work. He appealed to the participants of the workshop to always get a second opinion and to reconsider feedback, as well as to critically question their own work - to be constantly looking for improvement of their own skills and abilities.
The third panel was dedicated to smartphone photography and was led by Vera Gotseva, photography mentor with more than 20 years of experience in journalism. She drew parallels to storytelling by accentuating the fact that emotions are also the focus in her area of expertise and that as a photojournalist you can let people see through your own eyes. Vera Gotseva emphasised that practice is important in photojournalism.
After the panels, the participants had the opportunity to apply what they had learned in practice. They used their smartphones to record videos and interviews about the event, which they later incorporated into their final projects.