BBJ Brüssel: New website reaches out to EU Neighbourhood Journalists

International consortium starts 30-month training, networking project.

Discovering the heart of a story in the European Union is difficult. Cutting through the red tape of Brussels can be even more difficult - especially from afar.

The European Neighbourhood Journalism Network (ENJN) can help.

The foremost aim of the ENJN (http://www.journalismnetwork.eu/) is to help journalists from southern Mediterranean, Eastern European and southern Caucasus countries make sense of the EU. At the same time, the ENJN will facilitate networking between journalists from these regions with the goal of building bridges within the neighbourhood.

The website contains background information on the European Neighbourhood Policy as well as the networking effort. It will continue to develop and offer tools to help network participants reach a better understanding of newsworthy neighbourhood issues. Journalists can also use it to connect with colleagues, trainers, schools and the key people involved in the network.

This deep resource is part of a 30-month media training and networking project. The project's objective is to train journalists in the European Neighbourhood and to provide these media professionals with their own platform in the dialogue taking place at so many levels across the region.

The project's 40 local training sessions start in June in countries such as Armenia, Jordan and Egypt. The project will also seek continued in-depth consultation with the region's media on matters of importance to the profession and to society in general.

The ENJN is operated by an international consortium of media experts - the Thomson Foundation (UK), the European Journalism Centre (Netherlands), the International Federation of Journalists (Belgium), Management Partners (UK) and BBJ consult (Belgium).

The project operates with funds from the European Commission, within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy. It is a follow-up to the successful "Europe for Mediterranean Journalists" (http://www.eu4medjournalists.eu/) initiative.

Ends

Contacts:

Ulrike Wisser

BBJ Servis gGmbH

Brussels branch

Rue des deux Eglises, 44

B - 1000 Brussels

phone: 0032-2-609 57 56

e-mail: #ulrike.wisser[at]bbj.be



BBJ Brüssel: New website reaches out to EU Neighbourhood Journalists