LONDON - Five Macedonian journalists trained in 'Investigative Reporting' by the Thomson Reuters Foundation spent a week on a study tour to London in August to expand their skills. The five -- three TV and two print -- were selected from a group of 30 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) journalists who attended a two week training course in their own country conducted by the Reuters Foundation.
The training and study tour was funded by the UNDP as part of a programme to raise awareness of corruption and the role the media can play in exposing it. Only one of the five journalists had visited London previously and the group spent their time in lectures and criss-crossing the city for special presentations by organisations including the Bank of England and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
A key part of the tour was observing at first hand the operations of Reuters Editorial at its headquarters at Canary Wharf, including the company's state-of-the art TV production. They also toured the British Houses of Parliament, heard from leading experts on media law, freedom of the press, and reknowned foreign correspondent James Pringle, a former Reuters correspondent who went on to become the London Times bureau chief in China.
"This tour broadened my horizons tremendously and opened my eyes to many advances in technology," said Goran Rizaov of Skopje' leading newspaper Dnevnik.
"The people we heard from, like our talks at the EBRD, showed me how helpful sources of information outside our own country can be in developing stories," said Bisera Jordanovska , news editor of top broadcaster TV Alsat.
"It was a tremendous experience for everyone," said UNDP organiser Fatmir Musa who accompanied the group to London.
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