Activity Details (ID# 20594)

Activity Synopsis

This two day workshop was discussed and presented to PTV Armenia. It was developed by Nathalie Labourdette and delivered by Eric May for participants from PTV Armenia in Yerevan.

The objective was to give PTV executives and journalists clear standards for covering elections, specifically the presidential election scheduled for February, 2007. The two day workshop was delivered at Marriott Hotel in Yerevan, Armenia. The trainer did a one-day visit to PTV headquarters and news department in Yerevan.
 

It was a two-day workshop comprising of five modules: Understanding the audience, Visual storytelling, Press conferences, News graphics, Natural sound, Preparing for the election, Creative election coverage and election night coverage.

The organization of this workshop was not easy. Despite the good will of Diana Mnatsakanyan, Head of International Relations Department, it was difficult to get the journalists on board. The relationships with the News department are not simple. But the Trainer did his best to retain everyone who managed to come. Of 22 participants, only 9 attended both days. PTV staff explained the situation by saying that participants who were scheduled to attend the workshop were also scheduled to work that day as well. Most participants were late (30-45 minutes) each day.

The trainer dismissed two participants for either coming late, or saying they could not stay for the entire day. From the list of 16 participants given by PTV in advance of the workshop, only 5 actually attended, and only 2 of these people attended both days.

None of the participants had knowledge of English, and consecutive translation was provided. Level of experience ranged from one year to +15 years at PTV.

In contrast to the list provided by PTV, most (19) of the participants were journalists (including several from radio) and only three were managers or editorial decision makers as had been expected and planned for.

There were group discussions about perceptions audience has about television news and about PTV “H1” coverage. Practical exercises on the same political story covered by two different stations were discussed for visual content. There were group discussions of problematic visual nature of press conferences followed by practical exercises – participants held a “news conference” and teams looked for visual signs to express what was happening-
Examples of various types of news graphics were presented followed by practical exercises.

Participants created their own short “newscasts”, performed for the rest of the group, on one of three topics: “explaining the election process”; “explaining the role of the president, the parliament, and the deputies”, and “explaining the role of the government, the courts, the news media, and the public in an election”
Principles for organizing election night coverage were illustrated with examples of election coverage from other EBU member stations; discussion of principles in “PTV election coverage toolkit (translated handout)”.
 

Workshop results (what worked, what didn't and why?):

All participants seemed enthusiastic, but most had no power or authority to influence how elections and news are covered by PTV.
83% journalists found the workshop completely and 17 % very useful. It completely or mostly met the expectations of 100 % of the participants. What was most valuable :
- how to make news on TV;
- The idea that our work is for the Public, to understand the wishes of the audience;
- Everything was very useful especially how to present the election night;
- The most valuable thing was how to create the report when we try to tell the story without sound, only with images. The detailed analysis, visual material and human approach are most valuable. That leaves the deepest impression and I don't have to make notes;
- I like the graphics which were presented during the election night; the immediate linkage of the programme with ordinary man;
They liked the method used by the trainer:
- detailed information, professional approach;
- It is better to see than to be told about; It was active practise, there was something new, not boring.

For more details, see the report.
 

Editors, Editors-in-chief & Journalists from PTV Armenia