The Media for All project has been an “academy” for Amfora Media. During this project, our team developed new approaches and improved its professional reporting.
Also, our audience became more engaged, helping us towards better-quality reporting.
Young professionals face numerous challenges in a media environment that is increasingly vulnerable to social and political developments. On the other hand, the small media where young professionals work have limited technical and financial capabilities.
The support “formula” offered through the Media for All project produced something that could be considered a first-time initiative in Albania.
The combination of theory, support with equipment, and implementation in practice proved effective for Amfora Media. We developed our reporting and audience engagement standards.
We brought for the first time to our media two very creative formats dedicated to young people. The “Culture in One Minute” video series was a novelty for online media content in Albania. In episodes lasting roughly one minute, we provided very interesting historical information, combined with reporting and interactive graphics.
The “Voice of Culture” podcast series also helped broaden Amfora’s focus. We went beyond cultural heritage and archaeology; we reported on social issues, digital rights and women’s rights. We also covered characters and historical events important to the collective memory. We empowered the voices of young people and artists.
The Engaged Citizens’ Reporting (ECR) tool was a successful form of audience engagement. Earlier, Amfora had created several forms of audience engagement, but none were successful. The ECR tool brought about a revolution for us; hundreds of citizens sent in quality reports, thus enriching our articles with previously unpublished information, photographs and documents.
The training we received during the project improved our journalistic reporting, combined with writing, filming and audio recording techniques.
We also focused more on phenomena related to disinformation, misinformation and fake news. After the mentorship sessions, we improved our policies and created two internal guides: “Guide to safety at work” and “Guide to reporting on gender issues”.
The equipment support was invaluable to us; our investigative reporting is now much more secure. We use remote communication and filming equipment, which makes our reporters safer when investigating the destruction of archaeological ruins.