Empowering Public Service Media for Greater Citizen Engagement and Cross-Border Collaboration

Public service broadcasters and media professionals from across the Western Balkan in Podgorica, Montenegro, attended a two-day training designed to strengthen audience engagement and enhance cross-border collaboration in journalism.

On June 3 and 4, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and Goethe-Institute.V. organised the event “Empowering Public Service Media for Greater Citizen Engagement and Cross-Border Collaboration”. The event was also hosted by RTCG, Montenegro’s public broadcaster.
This initiative brought together media professionals from public broadcasters in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, providing practical tools and strategies to foster stronger connections with audiences and to collaborate across borders on shared issues.

“Audience engagement is a concept we at BIRN have been implementing over the past three years. We developed a digital tool that is now successfully used by more than 50 media outlets across the Western Balkans and Visegrad countries – a tool through which award-winning stories have been produced,” Vuk Maras, BIRN Montenegro’s Director, said.

Gentiana Murati, BIRN’s Deputy Director, presented the scheme for the content production grants, which are available for public broadcasters.

The training aimed to address pressing challenges, such as declining viewership and rising mistrust, and harness new opportunities for meaningful public engagement.

“At RTCG, we believe in innovation that serves the public good, and we are proud to host initiatives like this that bring together regional partners to learn from each other and work towards stronger, more trusted journalism across the Western Balkans,” Boris Raonic, RTCG’s Director General, said.

During the training, participants explored participatory journalism methods, innovative audience formats, and successful case studies from the region and beyond.

“At a time when public trust and audience engagement are more important than ever, public service media must evolve – not just to inform, but to listen, include, and co-create with their communities,” said Georgia Trismpioti, Regional Team Leader for the “Innovation. Media. Minds” Programme.
“We know the challenges – shrinking audiences, rising mistrust – but we also know that innovation and collaboration can open new doors. This training is a chance to explore tools, share experiences, and develop ideas that can travel across borders,” she added.

This event is part of the “Innovation. Media. Minds Programme: Support to Public Service Journalism in the Western Balkans”, funded by the European Union and managed by the Goethe-Institut on behalf of the European Commission and in collaboration with its implementing partner, DW Akademie.

It is also part of the EU-funded project“Strengthening Quality News and Independent Journalism in the Western Balkans and Türkiye II”, which BIRN and seven other partners implement. It aims to provide systemic support to improve quality and professionalism in journalism in the Western Balkans and Türkiye.