A new guide aimed at helping aspiring science journalists in Albania to cover scientific topics has been published.
The guide has information about science journalism efforts in the country, and provides ideas for specific topics and how to approach them from a scientific and journalistic perspective. It also has links to relevant international sources for further study and advice.
The guide was written by Altin Raxhimi, an experienced journalist from Albania who has reported for print, digital media and television on topics ranging from war to food to academia. Raxhimi holds a degree in journalism from the University of Tirana. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Raxhimi said: "I hope the guide will be able to show how seducing, enlightening and useful the reporting about science is, and encourage more journalists writing in Albanian to explore it."
The guide was published by the Balkan Network of Science Journalists and the European Federation for Science Journalism and is available on the BNSJ and EFSJ websites.
Publication of the guide was made possible through the support of EurekAlert!, a science news release platform operated by the non-profit American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
"EurekAlert! is thrilled to support the latest in a series of science journalism guides from the Balkans and Eastern Europe," said Brian Lin, director of editorial content strategy at EurekAlert!. "The passion and dedication of journalists in this region in cultivating the next generation of talents is inspiring."
The initiative has previously brought science journalism guides to life in Croatian, Slovenian, Hungarian, and Romanian.
"We hope this latest guide will help future generations of science journalists in both Albania and Kosovo," said Mićo Tatalović, a board member of the European Federation for Science Journalism, who has been coordinating the project. “It is, to our knowledge, the only such guide in the Albanian language, and we hope that the advice it offers -- combining local knowledge and best international practices -- will be useful to science writers in the region."