EJC to host free InJo event in Maastricht

The Programme

To share or not to share: this is a question which has already been answered. Now a group of thinkers will gather in the Netherlands to discuss the more complicated quandary: How?

Innovation thinkers like David Nordfors of Stanford University and Richard Allan Horning, a Silicon Valley insider, will join intellectual property experts like Anthony Falzone, a lecturer/litigator for a free conference at the European Journalism Centre.

They will analyse the moving intersection of copyright and innovation from several sides. Innovation in the realm of intellectual property is ongoing; it is perhaps most visible in the proliferation of Creative Commons licensing.

The conference, titled Innovation Journalism: Copyright and the Use of Creative Commons, will be held Thursday, 13 November, at the main office of the European Journalism Centre. The EJC is located in the heart of Maastricht, a picturesque southernmost city in the Netherlands.

To register, please e-mail or .

The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science will sponsor this one-day event.

This is the second in an EJC series of innovation seminars held in Maastricht. Last year’s event focused on Innovation Journalism at large.

During that conference, Nordfors, who is originally from Sweden, stressed the benefit of innovation in a democratic society and the need to understand innovative processes and ecosystems through Innovation Journalism. InJo treats innovation as a topic and follows its development in technology, business, politics, etc.

If innovation could be covered as a distinct topic within the mainstream media, society would be better able to understand the processes which are behind it and contribute to its development, Nordfors said.

This year’s event will concern itself with the role of copyright within the innovation sphere. This free seminar has limited space, so please contact the EJC as soon as possible in order to guarantee your spot.

Posted on October 16, 2008 by EJC
Filed under announcements.

EJC and Mediacentar Sarajevo launch curriculum development project in Bosnia-Herzegovina

The Matra Social Transformation Programme, part of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, awarded a two-year grant to the European Journalism Centre to implement the project Investigative Reporting and Good Governance: New Approaches for New Journalism In Bosnia-Herzegovina in cooperation with Mediacentar Sarajevo. 

This is the first time the Matra programme has funded long-term programming in the West Balkan country.  The project will officially start in Autumn, 2008. 

The EJC and Mediacentar Sarajavo will work together to upgrade and introduce new journalism curricula to working journalists as well as students. An emphasis will be placed on investigative reporting,which will become part of the core group of programming offered by Mediacentar Sarajevo.  The overriding, long-term aim is to utilise and strengthen the local media’s oversight function through the production of professional and in-depth reporting on the corruption still prevalent at many levels of Bosnian business and in government institutions.  Raising awareness of the problem through the media can lead society to pressure for concrete changes. 

“The European Journalism Centre aims to share Netherlands’ best practice with our project partners, most intensively in those ways that can assist in asserting the media’s watchdog role in society,” says Josh LaPorte, EJC project executive for the programme. “That kind of role the media should be playing can lead to greater transparency and good governance.”

Programme activities will include the development of five new practical journalism courses, creation of an online education resource for BiH journalists, upgrading and modernising the journalism curriculum at Sarajevo University to include an emphasis on practical work, and the training of BiH trainers utilising cutting-edge media expertise from the Netherlands and bring long-term sustainability to the project.

Mediacentar Sarajevo, established in 1995 by Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina, supports the development of independent and professional media in BiH and the region of Southeast Europe through educational programs, research and consulting. 

Posted on September 25, 2008 by EJC
Filed under development.