Details

Published: 18 February 2010

Maribor, Slovenia, 15 - 17 May 2008

 

Conference Picture Gallery 
Welcome address of Mr. Franc Kangler, Mayor of Maribor 
Letter from Mr. Anton Guzej, Director General, RTV Slovenia 
Welcome address of Mr. Zoran Medved, Senior editor, TV Maribor

 

 

 

May 15th 2008

Opening Session

At the opening session Anita Bhalla, President of Circom Regional presented what will take place at this year´s conference. She emphasized the importance of connectivity between local and global story content, and she also thanked the organizers for their preparation of the conference.
In the continuation also conference host Zoran Medved and the Mayor of Maribor Franc Kangler expressed their warm welcomes to the participants. The latter presented the beauties of the city and invited the participants to visit the city and its surroundings.

 

Plenary: EU Policy is Survival, Growth or Decline of Public Service Broadcasting

The objective of this plenary was to debate the position of the EU on public broadcasters. The audience raised some interesting points about individual regional public broadcasters and introduced the difficulty´s they are facing. The evolving competition between commercial and public broadcasters was discussed by the participants. Speaker Therry Vissol commented on the current situation and introduced the new EU proposal of the European Commission on public broadcasting.

 

Workshop 1: Regional Sport is more than a Game

The general idea of the lecture was how to make a sports event as interesting as possible for audiences at home. Conference guest Dirk Froberg received great attention because his documentary film is the best example of how an ordinary man, suffering from middle age crisis and with some bad habits, can achieve success in sports and thus make his whole family happy. This incited a very interesting discussion regarding women´s football and why it can be so much more interesting than men´s. Participants concluded the lecture with numerous interesting questions, which added spice to such a dynamic discussion.

 

Workshop 2: Regional Broadcasting on Mobile Devices

At a workshop about broadcasting regional television programs via mobile devices Catherine Bomeisl, CIRCOM Deputy Secretary General, highlighted Italy, Finland, Albania, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland as being those European countries that have already launched mobile TV. Professor Gerhard Eitz presented mobile TV as an opportunity for changing the passive audience into an active one with the help of user friendly devices, which render many functions. To complete the presentation Andres Eben and Tobias Hellmuth from the Fraunhofer Institute presented the three main functions of these devices, which combine Internet, television and mobile services. As an assurance that these devices have become more than just prototypes, the moderator Peter Sauer, General Secretary of Circom Regional, emphasized that on the market at this present time there already exists a device that supports this type of technology, the mobile telephone Nokia N77. The talk was brought to an end with an actual showing of the Nokia mobile telephone.

 

Plenary: Idea´s Bazaar

At the beginning of the the Idea´s Bazzar the chair Michael Lally ´took´ the participants to a bazaar somewhere in Cairo or Marrakesh. He explained the main purpose of the Plenary was to explore ideas and to talk about them. Despite the fact that after each of the eight presentations there were not many questions asked, the audience was inspired and intense discussions continued during the coffee break. Ideas ranged from the Dutch RTV Noord´s You Tube channel with its more than two and a half milion visitors to the BBC´s big screen network for watching sports events. As was said in the conclusion TV broadcasters have to share ideas more and to be aware that they are not working to serve themselves but to serve their audiences.

PRIX CIRCOM 2008 AWARDS

The award ceremony was very impressive and diverse, with great musical inputs and great contributions by the winners. The hosts of the evening were Tajda Lekše and David Loewan, who carried out the program in Slovene and English. Musical contributions where done by a band named Patetico, female choir Carmina Slovenica, Terafolk´s Bojan CVe and Klemen Braško and the Ballet Company of SNG Maribor with Bojan Gorišek and Milko Lazar. A thank you speech that stood out the most was made by the winner in the category Most Original Programme Cezary Ciszewski, who said that mobile phones will shake the television scene. The ceremony was produced by Regional RTV Center Maribor.

 

May 16th 2008

Plenary: Meet the Winners

Today the winners had one more chance to present their work. Unfortunately we did not have the opportunity to see all the winners´ works because not all of them were present. The majority were works which we can see via television but we should not forget about the website winner! The main winner for the documentary film was Ayelet Bargur from Israel.

Workshop 1: ESA.tv – What brought me ESA after 9 months

Young journalists from 14 different countries, who met last year in Nürnberg to attendant a four weeks training where they learnt about new filming procedures, directing and designing picture material for the news, reunited at this year’s conference in Maribor. At the workshop they first presented short films they had made during their training program in Germany. After that they spoke about their experiences in the field of journalism and emphasized that friendship is what they remember the best. New contacts are the links that will help them in their future career.

 

Workshop 2: New Alternatives for Professional Broadcasting: Open Source Community Software, Linux and much more
At the beginning of the workshop on Open Source Community Software the chair Zoran Medved questioned everybody about the level of usage of Open Source Software. It was obvious that not many participants know about the concept and the usage of this kind of software. The film ´Elephants dream´ showed the possibility of Hollywood style animation with Open Source Software. In the next part of the workshop the Slovenian film and TV director Amir Muratović demonstrated the practical usage of the Open Source Video editing Application Cinelerra. Some of the participants showed so much interest in that part that the Questions and Answers session was brought forward. During his presentation Klemen Robnik from Cyberpipe showed some statistics about the usage of Open Source Software in the film and broadcasting industry. He told the participants that Hollywood is also based on this kind of software. At the end of the workshop one of the participants said that the main goal of the search for necessary infrastructure should be to cut costs and to increase the quality of television production. He was of the opinion that the best solution is actually Open Source Software. 

 

Plenary: The New Balance: Future challenges for Broadcast Journalism in a fragmented global world

The speaker Wally Dean presented some of the most important changes and trends in Broadcasting Journalism. For example he pointed out that the fragmentation of the audience is increasing, Internet usage in journalism is more frequent and that more information content is available but is thinner. He also gave some advice on how to be more efficient as a journalist by saying: The viewership is less influenced by what is covered- and more by how it is covered. To conclude he gave some examples, first a couple of reports with mistakes and then the two reports corrected, while doing this he also asked for audience co-operation. 

 

Workshop 1: Regional Drama: from a Whisper to a Scream
How can smaller regional television stations get financial means for making dramas? Micheal O Domhnaill said it is important to include specialties from a region in drama films, from characteristics to dialects. He presented a short film which focused on Irish teenagers in which the producer tried to include them in the life of Irish media. Susanne Kvartforth, representative of Swedish television, also presented a short film from social life and added that in regional dramas the local language of a specific region is most important. Will Trotter, BBC Executive Producer presented a project, on how to produce a series of films on a low financial budget (doctor as confessor). At the end of a very intensive workshop, Lelda Ozola from Latvia presented some ways on how smaller television stations can assure financial means for regional drama. She proposes that means are obtained from other sources. Assuring financial means was tipants of the workshop added that in dealing with minorities we must take into consideration the standards of good taste and the legislation of individual countries.

 

Workshop 2: The Alienation of the Other in European Regional Journalism – Creating Understanding or Conflict?
Speakers presented some proposals for establishing harmony within media dialogue with minorities. Agnieska Borowska with an example of English humour about Poles exposed just how important it is to know who we are speaking to – the English should not joke about the Poles, but the Poles should joke about themselves. Katalin Barsony as a representative of the European Roma journalists is convinced that the number of reports with minority content should be increased in which it is necessary to become familiar with the problems of the minorities and to become friends with their representatives. The next speaker Tim Johnson emphasized the importance in suitable media presentation of the minorities, taking into consideration accompanying music, the effect of which can be extremely manipulative. Participants of the workshop added that in dealing with minorities we must take into consideration the standards of good taste and the legislation of individual countries.

 

May 17th 2008

Plenary: Young Journalist Workshop and Diplomas

Nineteen young journalists finished their training today by presenting the work they did in the last two weeks. The trainees had a week to work on the concept and the idea of the project by learning the theoretical background of journalistic work. In the second part they had six hours time to film the report and then again the same time to edit it. Michael Delahaye explained that during the training the emphasis was put on journalism, structure of reporting and writing to picture. The trainees were given diplomas at the end and we could see a lot of sad faces because they have to leave this amazing experience behind them and go home!

 

Plenary: 25th Anniversary of CIRCOM Regional – Remembering Old and What is the Future

This conference was special because it was the 25th anniversary of CIRCOM Regional and the end of the 26th annual conference. The main subject of the last plenary was a review of the past, how it all began and who were those people that got CIRCOM started. Peter Sauer, Secretary of CIRCOM Regional, added what he wants the conference to achieve in the future and listed the guidelines that regional television should follow. The end of the plenary was dedicated to all those who had helped to carry out this conference in Maribor.

 

 

Closing ceremony
Zoran Medved, host of CIRCOM conference, expressed his thanks to all those who contributed to the smooth running of this year´s conference. He also announced the location of the next conference which will be in the town Groningen in the Netherlands.

 

 

 

Details

Published: 17 February 2010

Bilbao, Spain, 10 - 12 May 2007

Conference Picture Gallery
Host Web site

Conference General Information:     

 

Thursday, 10th May 2007

OPENING CEREMONY "THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC TELEVISION IN EUROPE": New challenges, new opportunities, new horizons

The 25th Circom Regional Conference kicked off punctually at 9:00. The opening ceremony was lead by Manuel Lombao, representative of RTVE. After welcoming the participants, he asked a one-minute silence in honour of Vanda Condurache, member of Circom and the Romanian Television.
The act was followed by speeches from Anita Bhalla (President of Circom Regional and Director of BBC Birmingham), Peter Sauer (General Secretary of Circom and executive of the public German TV), Ibon Areso (Deputy Mayor at the City Council of Bilbao), Jesus Mari Santos (Director of Presidency Affairs of RTVE Corporation) and Andoni Ortuzar (General Director of EiTB).
Anita Bhalla highlighted the Digital Terrestrial Television and commented on how the different European countries are preparing its launching. Peter Sauer explained Circom’s major strategies for the coming years, stressing, among other themes, the cooperation, the exchange, the formation and the development.
Andoni Ortuzar and Jesus Mari Santos focused on the function of EiTB and RTVE within Circom and within their respective fields. Finally, the representative of the Bilbao City Council, Ibon Areso, welcomed warmly the participants and invited them to enjoy the city’s leisure offers.
The 25th Annual Conference of Circom Regional, the European Association of Regional Television, took place in the Basque town of Bilbao from Thursday, May 10 to Saturday, May 12 and tackled the future of public television. This international conference hosted by Euskal Telebista and Radio Televisión Espanola gathered more than 200 professionals from 80 public media groups, from 38 countries.

 

PLENARY SESSION "PUBLIC TELEVISION IN EUROPE TODAY"
Chair: Pat LOUGHREY, BBC Director Nations & Regions
Participants:
- Jesús Mª SANTOS, Director of Presidency Affairs, RTVE Corporation
- Bingen ZUPIRÍA, Director of ETB
- John BERNANDER, Vice President EBU - NRK/ TV
- Cathal GOAN, General Director of RTE
- Marius DRAGOMIR, Open Society Foundation
Public television nowadays in Europe
After the opening ceremony, the plenary session Thursday morning discussed the situation of the public television in Europe.

 

GREETING OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS MR. MICHELE DELEBARRE: Europe must be of the interest of the mass
Michel Delebarre, President of the Committee of the Regions, joined the 25th Circom Regional Conference, outside the programme. At about 2:00pm, he participated as a special guest in a session dealing with the importance of territorial communication on European issues.
Delabarre noted that Europe is now realising that citizens are not aware of European issues in general. Thus, he spoke to boost collaboration between different territorial media and the Committee of the Regions itself as a contents and information provider.
He specified that regional televisions and radios are between the Regional Association and citizens. In his opinion, these three agents share an only future. In Delabarre's words, work must be based on the framework of territorial information. "Europe –he assured- must be of the interest of the mass."
The Regional Association is the political assembly that lets local and regional bodies have their own voice within the European Union.

PLENARY SESSION "HISTORICAL MOMENT: THE CHALLENGE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY"
The first plenary session of Thursday afternoon discussed the challenge of new technology. Eladio Gutierrez (Director DTT, RTVE), Carmelo Garitaonaindia (University of the Basque Country), Pieter Sijpersma (Editor-in-Chief of Dutch newspaper) and Gino Albarico (Technical Manager of RAI) participated. Andy Griffe (BBC Controller of English Regions) moderated the session.
Eladio Gutierrez talked about Digital Terrestrial Television. He analyzed the actual situation, the analogical “black-out”, the offer of channels, the distribution of the publicity market and he pointed out some strategies.
Pieter Sijpersma talked about the evolution and the actual situation of the mass media.
Gino Albarico highlighted some issues in relation with the present technological panorama, the habits of the consumers in relation with the new technologies and analyzed as well the economic and business expectations of the future.
Finally, Carmelo Gartaonaindia tackled the digital revolution and the changes for television. He concluded that in this very competitive context local and regional media groups has some advantages: their interdependency with the territory, some times with their own language and almost always with a specific culture, and the interests they share with their audience.

PLENARY SESSION "NEW GENERATION OF JOURNALISM"
The new generation of journalism has been the protagonist of the last plenary session on Thursday afternoon, conducted by Michael Lally from the Irish public television RTE. Fran Llorente (Director of News Programmes TVE), David Dunkley and Mark Norman (Videojournalists) and Cristina Ruiz (Sociologist and Professor of Navarra Public University) gave their viewpoint on the new generation of journalism.
Fran Llorente, director of the News Programmes of TVE, talked about the citizen participation. He highlighted the new experience of TVE’s second channel “Camara Abierta” (Open Camera) based on videos, documents and reports received from television viewers. He also pointed out the experience of “Tengo una Pregunta para Usted” (I’ve a question for you), a televised debate in which participated Spain’s PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and the opposition’s leader Mariano Rajoy. Llorente said the adaptation of new journalism to a new society is one of TVE’s challenges.
Videojournalists David Dunkley and Mark Norman presented several of their video creations. Mark Norman is videojournalist of the BBC and winner of the Video Journalism Award.
Finally, Cristina Ruiz analyzed the issue from an academic and sociological viewpoint and highlighted the impact of new technology, as well as the importance of it in education.

Circom participants visit EiTB's new headquarters
The manager of Euskal Irrati Telebista Juan Diego welcomed Circom participants at the new EiTB headquarters in Bilbao. The representatives of those public TV channels and regional centres of the European Association of Regional Television attending the 25th Conference these days visited the headquarters that will soon shelter 600 EiTB workers (radio, television and Internet).
The premises have 31,000 square metres, doubling the current space the group has in Bizkaia (Iurreta, Bilbao and Zamudio) and will be the culmination of the DIGIBat project. The project aims to digitalise integrally the premises and equipment and boost EiTB's multimedia concept, joining all the means available in the current headquarters.

 

Friday, 11th May 2007

PLENARY SESSION "INFORMATION SOCIETY: CHALLENGES OF GLOBALISATION TO REGIONAL TV"
The Friday morning session of the 25th Annual Conference of Circom Regional kicked off with a plenary session on the challenges of globalisation to regional television, in which participated Josu Amezaga (University of the Basque Country), Tahir Abbas (University of Birmingham), Scott Rensberger (American International Broadcaster) and Luis Rivas (director News & Programmes of Euronews). The session was conducted by Anita Bhalla, president of Circom Regional.
The paper presented by Josu Amezaga and Edorta Arana, professors at the University of the Basque Country, on the new linguistic situation emerging in Europe gave rise to an intense debate. Europe hosts about 60 minority languages, spoken by about 50 million people. More than 56 million immigrants living in Europe have access to television through satellite. From a technical viewpoint, 9 of 10 people can access television in their own language. Nevertheless, English keeps on being the dominating language. Television by satellite reminds us the linguistic minorities. Amezaga focused on the Basque case. He concluded a “geolinguistic region” has been created.
Dr. Tahir Abbas, from the University of Birmingham, invited the participants to think about how we react in view of the Muslim community. According to him, in the globalization era, public media groups offer a very vague idea of the Arab world, specially after 11-S and 11-M, and promotes a stereotypical viewpoint. Tahir called to eliminate the idea of radicalism usually linked to this community and to offer an adequate context.
Scott Rensberger said mass media should serve society and their main objective shouldn’t be the making of money. In the US, about 52 percent thinks that news will become worse in the future. Rensberger also criticized the use of dubbing in news programmes and other programmes, as subtitling brings the television viewer in touch with the minority language.
Luis Rivas, director of Euronews, explained the functioning of Euronews, which makes use of regional news and world news. He agreed with Tahir that we all have stereotypes, but we should go beyond. According to Rivas, it’s important that we all have a European vision, but there is no European television channel in Europe...

WORKSHOP:" HANDS ON: DIGITAL NEWSROOM EDITING IN THE REGIONS"

 

Chair: Anna ROBERTS, Thomson Foundation
Participants:
Glen MULCAHY, RTE Ireland
Representative from AVID
Andre MEIER, Winner Video Editing

 

PLENARY SESSION "CREATIVE TV PROGRAMMES IN REGIONAL TELEVISION"
The second part of the morning session reflected on the creation of the regional programs conducted by Pedro Gonzalez, from TVE. Joselu Blanco, director of programmes of Euskal Telebista; Uwe Walter, from Waltermania; Jorge Coira, director of Ficción from TVG, and José Mari Benet i Jornet, in charge of fiction in TV3 talked about their most emblematic programs. Zuzana Kostelnikova, member of the panel of judges of the Circom Awards and Isabelle Pantic, from the French Institut National de l’Audiovisual rounded off the morning session.
Director of Programmes of ETB José Luis Blanco talked about some of the successful products of the Basque channel, which, according to him, explain "what the Basques are like and what our tastes are". The mystery series "Balbemendi", premiered last year, the humor program "Vaya Semanita", documentaries such as "Euskal Herria: la Mirada Mágica" and future projects such as "Edo Zu edo Ni" were some of the examples given.
Uwe Walter showed some ways to do regional television in Germany, different ways to tell stories. He emphasized the importance of promoting creativity taking as examples successful programs that give the leading role to the citizens or build bridges between different cultures.
Jorge Coira talked about the importance of fiction in Galicia and the huge step forward that supposed the TV series "Mareas Vivas", a social phenomenon in the northern region.
José Mari Benet i Jornet mentioned other fiction products successful in Catalonia such as "Poble Nou”, pioneer daily series in 1994, and “Ventdelpla”, current social phenomenon.
Zuzana Kostelnikova, member of the Circom Awards jury announced some of this year's winners. Isabelle Pantic, from the French Institut National de l’Audiovisual francés, talked about the INA, the first audiovisual archive center in the world and the first digital image databank in Europe.

WORKSHOP “OLD & NEW TECHNOLOGIES: DTT – MOBILE PHONES- INTERNET”

 

Chair: Peter SAUER, BR, Secretary General of Circom Regional
Participants:
Javier CALERA, Director of Vilaumedia
Raier TIEF, Bayernischer Rundfunk
Gary HOLLAND, Winner Web Site Award

PLENARY SESSION “MEET THE WINNERS OF PRIX CIRCOM”
The winners of the Prix Circom Regional Awards 2007 were presented Friday afternoon. The panel of judges was formed by David Lowen, Chairman of the Prix Circom Regional Awards, Zuzana Kostelnikova, for the Magazine section, John Lindes, for the Documentary section, and Quentin Smith, for the Sport section.
Albert Knetchel from France 3 Alsace won the Sport award for Et dieu créa le foot, which shows the close relationship between football and beauty in Brazil, which Albert says is "a little cynical". Albert is really fond of Brazil, where he has already shot four films.
According to David Lowen, this superb coproduction encouraged the Circom organization to establish a new coproduction section next year. "Circom awards the production of a region, no matter where it is broadcast", David Lowen remarked.
Peter Bäckström, director of the Swedish channel SVT was awarded for his creative magazine Re: Agera. This magazine is aimed at a youth audience, "that which is usually forgotten at the regional television", according to Bäckström. The Swedish director explained the magazine mixes leisure and entertainment.
Germany's Andre Meier from MDR Leipzig won the Video Editing award for Liebte der osten anders? Sex im geteilten Deutschland. Gunhild Saetre (NRK More and Romsdal) won the special award F3 and Irene Thyrri (V2 Ostjylland) was awarded for her documentary Fanget som luder.

 

 

The Hosts of the 25th Circom Regional Annual Conference are two Broadcasting Organisations in Spain - RTVE and EITB.
The Letter of Agreement was signed by Manuel Lombao Lombao, on behalf of RTVE, and Andoni Ortuzar Arruabarrena, on behalf of EITB, on one side and Anita Bhalla, President of Circom Regional and Marija Nemcic, Secretary General of Circom Regional, on other side, after the Executive Committee Meeting in Bilbao on 10th November 2006.

 

 

Details

Published: 18 February 2010

Ian Masters, former Controller of Broadcasting for the Thomson Foundation, recalls his first meeting with Vanda Condurache in 1993.

I had just joined the Thomson Foundation from the BBC and Vanda’s station, RTV Iasi, was my first consultancy. I had been asked to develop their news and current affairs skills. Vanda was one of the station’s producers at that time. I was immediately impressed with her determination and commitment to the tiny TV station. They had so little at that time. Just three VHS cameras and a largely untrained news staff. After two weeks working with Vanda I knew that Iasi would grow in talent and stature. It did, and Vanda Condurache was the driving force behind the other producers and technicians.
The following June TV Iasi hosted the CIRCOM conference – by which time the station’s star was clearly in its ascent. Then in July Vanda came to the Thomson Foundation summer course and I enjoyed twelve weeks of teaching this remarkable woman. Small and slim in stature she had enormous strength of mind. I had rarely met such a professional woman and she had a thirst to learn about everything and anything to do with television.
From that first contact with CIRCOM she quickly gained the respect of broadcasters from dozens of member stations and her enthusiastic response to the work of CIRCOM led her to become  a decision maker for regional development. Fast thinking and decisive many of us were impressed by her wisdom. She always found time to help others – I never knew her to refuse a request for assistance.
The staff of the Thomson Foundation had the deepest respect for her. She became a close friend of Gareth Price, the then director, and over the years many TF trainers came to know and like her.
We were not surprised to hear that Vanda had been approached to lead the station’s programme output. What a fine leader she proved to be – always leading by example. Never asking anybody to undertake a task that she herself had not examined in minute detail.
Like us, her colleagues loved her. She always referred to me as “my teacher”. I visited the station on a number of occasions – my final visit was last November. Then, as before,  I was greeted by warmth and friendship.
Vanda’s voice will echo in the corridors TV Iasi for many years to come. A voice of enthusiasm and determination calling on the highest standards of effort from her team.  How this fine woman will be missed. Our hearts go out to her family and her colleagues after her tragic death.

Karol Cioma – Circom Regional Training Coordinator

May 1994 is embellished in the minds and hearts of the Circom training team.  This is the year that Circom training began and Hans Jessen, Didier Desormeaux and I first met, and when we all met Vanda for the first time too.  She was a member of that training course and it was a pleasure to train and work with her. Over the years she became a dear friend to all of us, her smile and welcome always sincere and genuine.  In fact Vanda’s effect was so strong that she epitomised what we always referred to as the “Iasi Spirit”.
When we organised the Training the Trainers course this year Vanda was the first person we wanted to attend that course.  We knew that our standards and principles would have been in good hands and would be put to good use by Vanda for the benefit of her colleagues in Romania.
The course in Bristol was in January of this year where, sadly as we now know, we met for the last time.  On behalf of Didier, Hans and all of the trainers and technicians that met with Vanda, I can say that we will miss her but we will never forget her and our thoughts go out to her family and friends.

Hans Jessen, Circom Regional Trainer

Last night my friends Didier and Karol called me and told me the terrible news about Vanda's death. I was shocked and I still am. Vanda was a person - and personanlity - who deeply impressed me and has opened my mind in many ways.
I met her for the first time 1994 in Iasi - the initial point of Circom training .
Coming from an established German tv-station I was confronted with working conditions and political circumstances which were far away from everything I had experienced before. Even more I was impressed by the enormous power, will and energy to build up a better future of public tv under these circumstances. We met a group of talented young journalists - and the outstanding character without any doubt was Vanda.
Iasi became a key-point in my life .
This experience from 1994 was confirmed again and again in the following years - year after year talented and enthusiastic colleagues from TVR Iasi attended the training courses and there was not one who was not motivated and promoted by Vanda. She was caring for her staff in a professional as well as personal manner - the best example for good managment and social responsibility under difficult conditions one can imagine.
From all the station representatives during the annual conferences I do not know any anybody who was interested in and supported training activities as consequently as Vanda did. We met every year and through the time developed a relationship of deep understanding and friendship. It was always wonderful to come together with Vanda - she was always friendly, open, interested and motivated - even when time was narrow , never harsh or cool - she just opened people`s hearts and souls .
The last time we met was after the Training-the-Trainers-course early this year in Bristol. For me it was absolutely clear that Vanda would have to be one of the future trainers , a logical consequence of her work, experience and success through the last years .
Due to elections in Bremen I could not join this years training course in Bilbao - until I had to cancel it, I had been looking forward to meeting Vanda and many others of you again there. now I have to accept vanda´s cruel fate individually from the distance.
My heart and my feelings are with Vanda`s family and with eveybody who feels close to her .
The world of Circom will not be the same without Vanda - but I know, that she will never forgotten and I`m convinced that her spirit and energy will stay as a heritage shared and continued by all the ones who knew her and loved her .

with deep sorrow
Hans Jessen

Rick Thompson, who organised the first Circom Training course in Iasi in 1994, says Vanda was exceptional.

What a deep shock it was to hear that Vanda had been killed. I remember very well meeting her in Iasi in 1994. The then Secretary-General of Circom Peter Zimmerman had called me at the BBC, at rather short notice, to say he had got some money from the EC, and could I organise a journalism training course before the annual conference, to be held for the first time in a former Communist country – Romania? Vanda was one of the talented young journalists from the host station to join the ‘trainees’. She immediately impressed Didier, Hans, Ian, Graham, John, Karol, Duncan and the rest of the training team who had been hastily assembled. Her energy was boundless. Her enthusiasm infectious. It was clear she would reach a very senior level, as indeed she did. It was always a pleasure to see her at subsequent Circom conferences and to follow her development.
The last time I saw her was at a European Commission consultative conference about communicating with the audiovisual media, in Helsinki just before Christmas 2006. Vanda was a panellist in the final session which I moderated, and as usual she gave an articulate and charming presentation, with clips of TVR programmes. She was a great ambassador for TVR.
Overall Vanda was exceptional, and it is a cruel tragedy that she should have gone so young. I send my heartfelt sympathy to her family, friends and many colleagues in Circom.

Rick Thompson
T-Media

 

 

 

 

 

Details

Published: 17 February 2010

Kolding, Denmark, 25 - 27 May 2006

 

Conference site: www.circom.tvsyd.dk
Conference Programme
Conference report 
Picture gallery

PRIX CIRCOM 2006
YOUNG JOURNALISTS WORKSHOP

Read more about Kolding city at: www.visitkolding.dk