From Novi Sad to Zagreb

By Stipan Juric, RTV

My job shadowing was based in the Department of Science and Education, with the main focus on the show Prizma, which covers national communities in Croatia. For someone like me, who deals with minority topics on a daily basis, it was an ideal testing ground for comparison and learning.

And I wasn’t mistaken.

Right from the start, I got involved in the entire process, from the initial idea, through field shooting, to the studio segments, and finally editing. There was no "be careful, this is complicated" or "just watch from a distance." My HRT colleagues literally pulled me into the work. And when I say pulled in, I mean it! I received advice you can't learn from books: how to extract the essentials from a guest, how to react when the technology fails, how to act on camera as if the studio were your second home. It was precisely those little things, which we often neglect, that meant the most to me. Stressful situations, which used to throw me off balance, suddenly became an integral part of the job, rather than an obstacle.

There were also moments that broke the mold of a standard workday. For example, attending the filming of the quiz show "Potjera" - pure joy, especially when you get to watch from the audience what you usually only see on a screen. And then, as the crowning moment, the closing ceremony of the Most Beautiful School Gardens project, an event that brought together children, teachers, editors, and journalists in one place. That was where I best felt that "higher" purpose of a public broadcasting service.

What struck me the most, however, was that there was no difference between "our" and "their" way of working. The same struggle with deadlines, the same satisfaction when you put a story together, the same smile when a broadcast goes well. Conversations with colleagues were honest, without hesitation, and holding nothing back. And it was exactly in those conversations that a dozen new ideas were born, which I will take back home to Novi Sad. I didn't arrive with huge expectations, but I left with far more than I had asked for. I don't know if the opportunity will present itself again, but I know I won't pass it up if it does. And from now on, Zagreb is-even when I'm off the clock-a little closer to my heart.

Funded by the European Union, the Innovation. Media. Minds Program: Support to Public Service Journalism in the Western Balkans, is managed by the Goethe-Institut on behalf of the European Commission and in collaboration with its implementing partner DW Akademie. The contents of this story are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.