Education and Media: a partnership for progress

Educational institutions and media professionals need to corporate and cover educational news better, summarises a new handbook released by the ETF. Entitled “Education and media: a partnership for progress,” the publication is a follow-up to a seminar on the role of the media in the distribution of education and training news organised by the ETF. Journalists and communication professionals from the World Association of Newspaper, the European Broadcasting Union, Aljazeera, the Jerusalem Post and other international media companies, newspapers, and associations from both EU Members States and neighbouring countries attended the seminar to discuss better ways of promoting education and training news in the print, broadcast and digital media. While there is no lack of information worth publishing, all participants agreed that more effort must be made to inform editors and to bring out the human interest factor in messages addressed to the media. Giving an overview of the arguments discussed, the handbook highlights ways of using media as an educational tool, proposes measures for better cooperation between journalists and education and training professionals and suggests more effective methods to engage audiences through the news at hand. The handbook concludes with key recommendations for the media, education providers and for public institutions like the ETF, highlighting constructive partnerships as the main goal to be envisioned.