For four days the School of Environmental Journalism was working in the Russian Far East. Organized by the Amur Tiger Center, it united the journalists of the Amur ecoregion - winners and laureates of the VIII Far East contest "Living Taiga".
From July 31 to August 4 in Khasansky Rayon of Primorye, the gathering of the winners and laureates of the VIII Far East contest of environmental journalism "Living Taiga" took place. This seminar has brought together the cream of environmental journalists of the Far East for the eighth time. This year it was held together with the Amur Tiger Center. It hosted 50 distinguished guests (journalists, editors, professors of Far Eastern Federal University, environmentalists from Primorye, Khabarovsky Krai, Kamchatka, Zabaikalye, Amur and Jewish autonomous regions) at the tourist center "Zapovednaya". Primorsky environmental press club "Last Wednesday " (Poslednyaa Sreda) was providing the work of the School.
"Words written by journalists are sometimes stronger than any weapon. Nature conservation is a very specific topic and requires a careful approach. Sometimes the reckless judgments of a correspondent can even become the cause of the death of a rare animal or of the avoidance of a fair punishment for poachers. At the seminar, journalists got to immerse themselves in the topic, discuss many issues in detail, including those related to the preservation of the Amur tiger and upcoming censuses. I believe that all this information and contacts of the experts, will help to evaluate competently various situations, write interesting articles and reports, - comments Sergey Aramilev, Candidate of Biological Science, Director of the Amur Tiger Center’s Primorye branch. "Ecological consciousness of citizens largely depends on journalists, and the high level of it is the key to success in preserving nature and one of its brightest representatives - the Amur tiger."
"If the previous seminars mostly provided journalists with environmental knowledge and clarified the environmental issues, this time we managed to talk about journalistic skills, the fate of the" fourth estate" and our place in these processes. And this is right, "- says Vasily Solkin, Chairman of the organizing committee of the “Living Taiga "contest.
The four days of the School of Environmental Journalism were full of events Besides the Amur Tiger Center staff, a number of reputable journalists were among its teachers and experts: Vladimir Oshchenko, Deputy Head of Information Service of TV and Radio Programs "GTRK Vladivostok"; Andrei Ostrovsky, an editor of Novaya Gazeta in Vladivostok; Natalia Ostrovskaya, a correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda in the Far East; members of the jury of the "Living Taiga" contest and the Premorye press club "Last Wednesday": Olga Maltseva, Candidate of Political Sciences, an associate professor of the Department of Journalism and Publishing Business, School of Humanities, FEFU; Elena Shchedrina, a TV journalist, Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation; Vasily Avchenko, a writer, journalist of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper in Vladivostok. Legal aspects of the journalism were highlighted by Irina Balakhnina, a lawyer of the Balakhnina and Associates Bar Association.
Information on the activity of the Amur Tiger Center was presented, the creation of new specially protected natural areas, conservation of cedar-broad-leaved forests (Amur tiger habitats) and the forthcoming event of the year - the Amur tiger 2014/2015 census. Participants of the School got acquainted with the competition works and environmental problems of the regions, discussed the role of the journalist in preserving the nature of the Amur ecoregion, the development of the "The Living Taiga" contest and the Union of Environmental Press Clubs. The Trans-Baikal Environmental Press Club "Berloga" reported on the organization of the expeditions of the club and its latest project - "Operation Amazar" on the rental of forests in the Mogochinsky district of Transbaikalye and the consequences of the pulp and paper industry for the local population. What can the local media do? This topic was covered using the example of the Pobeda newspaper of Pozharsky Rayon, which had organized a discussion about the creation of Bikin National Park.
Part of the time was devoted to professional issues of modern journalism: "Journalistic investigation. Theory and Practice "," News coverage for television as a cinematographic task: templates, methods, text ".
Every evening, under the starry sky and the sound of the sea, there was a demonstration of new documentaries about nature created in the last year: the premiere of the reality show "Spotted Family" (a joint project of the National Park "Land of the Leopard" and the Wildlife Protection Center "Call of the Taiga" ", 2014); Premiere of the documentary "Farewell to the Actor" ("Call of the Taiga" - Vasily Solkin, Gennady Shalikov, Oleg Kabalik, 2013). In one of the evenings the journalists saw a retrospective.
Every evening, new environmental documentaries created in the last year were shown: the premiere of Spotted Family (a reality show and a joint project of Land of the Leopard National Park and Wildlife Protection Center Call of the Taiga, 2014); documentary Farewell to the Actor ("Call of the Taiga" - Vasily Solkin, Gennady Shalikov, Oleg Kabalik, 2013), Oleg Kabalik's retrospective video The Booth of Publicity, filmed in 2007 at the first seminar of the "Living Taiga" contest. Documentary in the Name of Nevelsky - the winner of the Xth International TV Festival the Man and the Sea in the nomination "History" (GTRK "Dalnevostochnaya", creator and director Mikhail Didukh, 2014) became a remarkable discovery.