image: Seminar in Zagreb 2023
Credit: Bojan Džodan
Journalists and academics are convening on 13 September 2024 in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana for a one-day event to discuss issues around science in the media.
The event aims to reinvigorate local science journalism in the country, while also promoting cross-border networking with colleagues from the Balkan region.
It is part of ongoing efforts by the Balkan Network of Science Journalists, supported by EurekAlert!, to boost science journalism in the region through seminars and best practice guides produced by journalists in local languages.
Speakers will include experts from universities in Ljubljana and Maribor, as well as reporters and editors from media organisations such as Radio Television Slovenia, the newspaper Delo, and the Slovenian Press Agency.
International participants are coming from Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia, the UK and the US, from organisations including Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb, Institute of Physics in Belgrade, Radio Television Montenegro in Podgorica, and Telex news website in Budapest.
The event’s programme director is Renata Dacinger, journalist at Slovenia’s public broadcaster RTV Slovenia, who edits and presents the popular science show Ugriznimo znanost.
Dacinger says: “At the conference, we would like to present excellent examples of scientific journalism in Slovenia and other countries where the conference participants come from. It is always both pleasant and useful to meet colleagues from other media and countries. With new acquaintances and knowledge of the work of our colleagues, we also get new ideas. So, I’m looking forward to the conference itself, as well as to the results it will surely produce.”
The event, hosted this year by the creative hub Center Rog, follows a similar event held in Zagreb, Croatia, last year.
Science journalism guides in Croatian and Slovenian were published as part of the same initiative last year. This year, similar guides will be published in Albanian, Hungarian, and Romanian, with further ones planned in Greek and Turkish for next year.
The initiative is backed by EurekAlert!, whose director of editorial content strategy, Brian Lin, is also attending the event.
Lin says: “EurekAlert! and AAAS’s support for this conference and the companion science journalism guides is a natural extension of our Travel Awards program, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and which has supported journalists from the Balkans since 2018. Despite an abundance of remote meeting opportunities, nothing beats in-person interactions for building trust and sparking ideas. We’re grateful to the conference organizers and guide authors for making these resources possible.”