The meeting in St.Petersburg was very exciting: we were all keen to get back together and looking forward to more dialogue and debate, as well as an opportunity to tell about our publications.

I should point out that the workshop was conducted in interactive mode. In Moscow, we not only organized meetings with experts, managers from the media business and trips to a major TV station, but also constantly “monitored” students’ impressions and their suggestions on improving the workshop content. Thanks to this “monitoring” necessary adjustments were made to the St.Petersburg’s workshop. In particular, we took into account students’ interest in the online versions of the print media and invited to participate in the workshop Aleksander Aliev, director of Izvestiya’s internet project.

The second innovation – also prompted by the students’ own suggestions - was to include brief self-presentations. Each student was given the opportunity to present his or her publication to the other participants. This was a very interesting practical part of the overall workshop programme. In fact, on this occasion the practical part predominated. Together with Sergey Brilev (deputy head of the “Rossiya” TV channel) we analyzed the differences between newspapers and television, and with Andrey Kolesnikov (a special correspondent for Kommersant publishing house) continued to further talk about professional ethics in journalism. We also visited and learned about “Channel 5 – St.Petersburg” TV station and met its general director.

The theoretical part of the workshop was also very thorough. The students learned about the nuances of applying the advertizing laws in the media and about the findings of a public opinion poll by the Levada Centre on values in modern Russia, presented by Professor Aleksey Georgievich Levinson.

Every day of the workshop was absolutely packed with information and the participants were exceptionally enthusiastic – you got the impression they didn’t want to miss a single minute of our time together)). Nonetheless, we all had time to get to know one another, to make friends and swap telephone numbers and addresses. Each student was given a certificate as a memento of their participation in the School of Young Journalists. At the end, the kids thanked us for giving them the opportunity to understand their profession better, to appreciate its social significance and the abilities and opportunities they have. They all assured us that the meetings were absolutely essential for them as young journalists and that the School must continue into the future.

Well, I also very much hope that this project, which was launched during Youth Year, will continue into next year.