In a small room in Belgrade’s “Centre for Cultural Decontamination,” 20 journalists from across the Balkans gathered for a seminar on how to build sustainable independent media in a region that has been starved of free speech for so long.
During the Milosovic era, the center, which was set up to “transform the social atmosphere that has been contaminated by orchestrated nationalism, hatred, and destruction,” had served as an oasis for freedom of speech and thought, where brave artists and writers gathered to plan for a post-conflict future.
A few weeks ago it was being used by journalists from the region to try to ensure that the events that followed the break-up of the former Yugoslavia never happen again.
All came from different backgrounds and all had witnessed events that make transition to normality difficult to cope with. They represented television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and news agencies, and spanned the so-called “ethnic divide.”
In a packed two days, they examined their editorial propositions, identified their core news strengths, streamlined their content offerings, and explored how to make their businesses economically sustainable.
They discovered how a new editorial discipline and a multiplatform writing style could enable a weekly magazine on the borders of Macedonia and Albania to produce an online version for almost no extra cost and how that new business could become sustainable.
They emerged having found out how to create new products from existing workflows using fewer resources and reaching a wider audience.
A TV station found a way of creating a more dynamic Web offering by focusing on its unique content and cutting the clutter.
A news agency found ways of building new products from existing resources and opening up the possibility of tapping into new markets.
Those attending the seminar examined their core editorial offerings, listed what they produce that nobody else does, and began piecing together a new content strategy focused on their strengths and deleting the distractions.
One magazine was grappling with how to put the whole publication online. They realized they didn’t have to.
After identifying their core editorial strengths and why they exist, the magazine’s representatives decided to build an online offering that simply reproduced the top 10 stories and comment pieces produced by the weekly edition in a new minimalist offering.
They removed the nice to have, but costly to produce, elements and boiled the whole editorial proposition down to the essential in order to fulfil their newfound editorial mission: “to enhance understanding throughout the community.”
What is more, they saw how, with a fresh approach to content creation, they could automate almost all parts of the process.
They then drew up the costs of such an operation and figured out what subscription model would be needed to make ends meet. The answer was stunning.
Overseas users of the magazine — desperate for news from the area and starved of grassroots coverage of regional news — had already mailed to say they would subscribe to an online version in order to keep in touch.
By figuring out new workflows and an editorial discipline of writing once for both the magazine and the Web, the magazine’s editorial team realized that they could go online and cover costs from day one.
The coffee breaks were as important as the sessions. These were not wasted with idle chatter. The journalists wanted to know how to examine these fresh concepts in detail.
What was significant was that all arrived early for the sessions and stayed until the end, often engaging in deep and detailed discussions long after the workshops had closed. All were eager to discuss how they could apply the fresh thinking to their own journalistic operations.
This is a region tired of being lectured to. These journalists are weary of gatherings where various experts are flown in to talk to them. They very rarely stay to the end.
“I came to this session expecting to leave at the first coffee break,” said one Serb, the editor of a weekly political magazine. “We have had too many wasted hours listening to people talking about issues not relevant to us, but this was different. From this seminar we have found clear guidelines for how to develop on our own,” he said.
And the difference is sustainability. This wasn’t a junket of consultants offering an escape from the office. This was a gathering with clear objectives: to examine the content proposition, refine it, scrutinize workflows and the use of resources, and ensure that what emerges at the other end of the process is supported by a sustainable business plan and is focused on the needs of the users.
It was a unique training event created and delivered by the Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF), which exists to assist independent media in emerging democracies. It was supported by the Swedish Helsinki Committee on Human Rights. And the course was sponsored by the Council of Europe.
The outcome is that six news organizations in the Balkans now have a blueprint for building a new sustainable future, and the editors and business managers who attended the gathering at the Centre for Cultural Decontamination are already introducing changes.