From 13 to 20 October 2020, we organized an environmental reporting workshop with German journalist Dirk Asendorpf and a group of Kosovar journalists profiled in research and writing on environmental issues. During these four sessions Kosovar journalists had the posssibility to learn about the history of environmental reporting, current challenges, best practices, reporting angles, presenting stories and hear about experiences of the facilitator.
In the second week we held a visit in Shterpce to the construction site of the hydropower plant that is currently being built. The visit was held closely understand the environmental impact of the project as well as social (lack of citizens in public consultations) and administrative aspects (irregularities with obtaining permits) of the construction of the new hydropower plant. As an example of green vs. green (a project that seeks clean and sustainable energy production and on the other hand causes environmental damage through externalities) this visit served as a base for the journalists' upcoming stories which will be produced as part of the project.
In the last session we covered the social, economic, political and environmental perspectives of reporting, comprehensive writing as well as spoke more broadly about useful research methods.
This workshop is organized as part of the project "Increasing competencies of Kosovar journalists on matters of energy and environment", supported by GIZ.