In a room of the European Parliament crowded with young journalists, the war correspondent David Beriain said genuinely: “when people are shooting each other, it’s difficult to be in the middle”. Beriain’s intervention in the opening panel of the seminar for young journalists “Nothing is Impossible: Reporting on Human Rights and International Conflict” left many young journalists wondering about how to better report from conflict zones and to better cover human rights.

Objectivity in war reporting, transparency, covering human rights violations were issues sixty young European journalists came to find out more about in the European Parliament in Brussels on 18-20 October 2011.

For three intense days they met war correspondents, international journalism specialists, human rights activists, representative of international NGOs and found answer to questions such as: what is the relationship between media and human rights? Is media objectivity in conflict zones impossible?

Media is interested in human rights because without them they wouldn’t be able to do their job, explained Aidan White, international journalism specialist. Objectivity is hard to reach in conflict, young journalists found out. But it is not an impossible task. “Be a journalist! Talk to everybody! Being too close to one side is too close to propaganda”, concluded David Beriain.

The 60 young journalists had the chance to create media together in five workshops: print, photo, TV, radio and multimedia. For one and a half days the participants worked together assiduously to produce the final outcomes presented on this website.

“I have learned a lot more than I was expecting”, said one participant. “It was intense, but it was all worth it”.

The workshop for young journalists “Nothing is impossible: Reporting on Human Rights and International Conflicts” was organised by the European Parliament and the European Youth Press. The event has been organised annually since 2007.

In a year when conflicts from all over the world have been constantly present in the media and the discussion about human rights has become more acute, the European Parliament is organising, with the support of the European Youth Press, its annual workshop for young journalists from the European Union.

"Nothing is impossible: Reporting on Human Rights and International Conflicts" has generated the interest of numerous young journalists from Europe. Sixty of them have been selected to take part in this event, taking place in the European Parliament in Brussels between 18-20 October.

Professional journalists, members of the European Parliament, representatives of media organisations and of human rights organisations will meet young journalists next week to look at questions like: what is the relationship between the media and human rights? Can journalists be objective in conflict zones? How can journalists report accurately on human rights violations in conflict zones? The 60 participants will also work together to produce media on the topic. The final media outcomes of the event will be presented in a closing ceremony on the 20th of Brussels.

The young journalists will get the opportunity to come face-to-face with journalists who have covered conflict zones and learn what it is it like to be on the hot spots of the planet and depict the situation to the whole wide world. In a time when young journalists all over Europe have a hard time getting a full-time journalism jobs, this seminar will give them a concrete view of an area of the profession that is often seen as glamorous: war and human rights reporting.

One of the most vital ideas of the European Youth Media Days is the creation and the enforcement of a Europe wide network of young emerging journalists: All across the European continent there are young people sharing the same vision, living under different circumstances, or being very similar to each other, depending on where they live and what they do. Besides all that differences there is one thing that they all have in common: They work in the same area and they are the creators of the European future as media producers or editors.

While working and living very similar – very european – there should bet the possibility of getting in contact with each other and foster networking abilities and effects. One of the main purposes the European Youth Media Days are serving is the enforcement of networking within the participants and on a bigger European scale. » read more...