The course, organized by the Reuters Foundation and the Bellagio Forum, was taught by veteran journalist Colin McIntyre. The trainees represented such diverse organizations as the Mlada fronta Dnes in the Czech Republic, the Frankfurter Rundschau, Norddeutsche Rundfunk, SME in Slovakia and Al Jazeera International.

The course began with a trip to Kabelmetal AG, a nearby copper producer with an interesting environmental story. Originally built in a rural area where the pollution from the industrial processes employed were far from the centers of population, over the years housing developments eventually put the factory in the center of a community. Journalists learned, of the strenuous efforts the company had made and continues to take to live in harmony with their neighbors and the environment. David Mercer, from Aljazeera International commented, “Their story was impressive and we came away with a much better understanding both of the process of producing copper as well as the steps a company can take to work together with a community. I think we came away thinking highly of Kabelmetal. At the same time, and as Colin taught us quite well, we recognize that it is always necessary to get both sides of a story.”

The three day course consisted of learning new research techniques as well as developing a better “environmental vocabulary”. On the content of the course the trainer Colin McIntyre said “Journalists need to be able to understand this material and then translate it to their readers in a way that they can understand it. It is not terribly uncommon that reporters get lazy. We want to make sure that this is not the case when it comes to issues of the magnitude of importance of the environment.”

“We were really pleased to have the journalists join us in Osnabrück,” explained BFSD executive director Sam Shiroff.  “It is my hope that we can continue to find the funding and other support necessary to hold more of these types of training courses. The experience these journalists have had as well as the follow-up research we have conducted with other trainees suggests the workshops have been highly effective in achieving our goal and a very valuable opportunity for them.”

The Osnabrück workshop was the last in a series of round-tables and workshops that comprised the “Environment in the Media” program supported y the German Federal Foundation for the Environment, Reuters and Deutsche Bank. Nevertheless, the Forum plans to continue to organize additional round-tables and workshops when possible.