Cultural Journalism is Essential to Facilitate Public Access to Culture
Jerusalem, 23 January, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Bucharest (Agerpres) – The importance of cultural journalism in contemporary society and of the further cultivation of a critical spirit, in a time of change and permanent challenges, was highlighted on Wednesday in a debate in the Great Hall of the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR).
Chairman of the Romanian Cultural Institute Liviu Jicman spoke about the importance of the field, saying that the debate started from the current developments in cultural journalism.
“On the one hand, the communication channels are changing, modernizing, we are all discovering individually and as a society, every day. On the other hand cultural journalism is an essential qualitative element to facilitate the public’s access to culture,” Jicman said.
He announced the launch of an annual fellowship program for foreign cultural journalists, who will have the opportunity, for one month, to come to Romania for research for their works including videos and reports.
The fellowships, worth EUR 2,500, are awarded each year to three cultural journalists, who can choose a month, between May 30 and November 30. “We hope to have as many candidacies as possible. Registrations will open on February 5,’ added the ICR president.
He voiced hope that debates like the one on Wednesday will be held again this year.
“I want it to be, perhaps, a debut in these discussions, which we will have throughout the year, because I believe that cultural journalists from all over the world and those in Romania should enjoy our attention, to see what the problems they are facing are, to understand ourselves, as cultural organizations, what the methods are by which we can offer more and more accessible information and to see, together, how we can build better communication channels for the general public, in the current context,” said Jicman.
The role that journalism plays today, professional ethics and critical thinking, the transformations that cultural journalism has undergone, as well as the dangers faced by cultural journalism, as it is practiced today, including through the emergence of new AI technologies, and also how to reach a wider audience, were discussed at the debate by writers, representatives of the academia, and other professionals.
