Twelve third-year students of the Faculty of Journalism of the State University of Moldova (USM) are taking part in a training course on video-journalism within a Moldovan-German project. The students are taught by German teachers how to film and to process images and will then travel to Germany for an experience exchange. The announcement was made in a news conference at IPN on October 17.
“Surely, the students learn not only technical aspects of video-journalism. They also study ethical aspects such as how to be an independent journalist, to have own opinions, to be able to differentiate between opinions and facts, to remain neutral and how to show it clearly that it is your personal opinion when you have one,” said Christoph Sodemann, director of the South East German Media Agency. “As important is to speak about the observance of the personal rights in journalism. You cannot film anyone and place the video on the Internet without asking for this person’s permission.”
The courses are given by an experienced cameraman and photographer from Germany, who will deal with the technical side, while Jens Meyer, former editor-in-chief of the German public TV channel, and Christoph Sodemann, former editor-in-chief of a private TV channel, will be responsible for journalism.
The training program started in mid-September and will last for three months. Besides attending the course, the students will also cooperate with journalists of the University of Bremen. The young people will learn from each other about the life of student and of journalist, communicating through videoconferencing and by posting comments on blogs. At the end of the project, they will make jointly short films inspired by this cooperation, which will be posted on an online platform. In 2015, the project will be continued by an experience exchange within which Moldovan students will go to the University of Bremen for two weeks, while German students will come to Chisinau.
Christoph Sodemann said this project can be considered a follow-up to the Moldovan-German cooperation started in 2008, when training courses on video-journalism for students of the Faculty of Journalism were staged during two years, while in 2010 there were made four short films centering on human rights that were later broadcast on the national TV channel.
“These courses are an opportunity for ensuring the continuous and high-quality formation of the young specialists. Why video-journalism? First of all because this faculty already gained certain experience, about which Christoph Sodemann spoke. These short films have been for a long time the visiting card of our faculty,” said dean Georgeta Stepanov.
The project is implemented by the South East German Media Agency in cooperation with the Faculty of Journalism, being financed by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany from the funds of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe
