There will be some 15 editors-in-chief and managing editors from around the Barents region participating in the network meeting. They represent radio, TV as well as electronic and print media. At Pohtimolampi resort the colleagues can share best practices and hear how their neighbors have solved the challenges brought by the transformation of the media market.

Journalists in the Barents region have communicated with their colleagues in the neighboring countries through the Barents Press network for twenty years. The editors in chief had their first opportunity of meeting each other at the first Barents Editors’ Forum in Kirkenes in October last year.

– The meeting in Kirkenes showed clearly that there is an interest for information from across the borders. Unfortunately resources are scarce. When the editors-in-chief can meet in person, the exchange of information and news materials becomes more natural. Sometimes it is also important to stop for a moment and think about the future we are building with the decisions we make today, says Markku Heikkilä, Barents Mediasphere project manager.

The Editors’ Forum is organized by Barents Mediasphere, a project lead by the Science Communications at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. The project partners are GTRK Murman, a regional radio and TV company of the Russian state and Internet news site BarentsObserver, run by the Norwegian Barents Secretariat. The Barents Mediasphere project is funded by the European Union’s Kolarctic ENPI cross border co-operation program, by national financers from Finland, Russia and Norway, and by project partners.

For more information please contact:

Markku Heikkilä
Head of Science Communications, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
markku.heikkila(at)ulapland.fi, tel. +358 40 4844 300

Maija Myllylä
Project coordinator, Barents Mediasphere
maija.myllyla(at)ulapland.fi, tel. +358 40 4844 154

www.barentsmediasphere.org

 University of Lapland / Arctic Centre / Science Communications / MM