ERNO network conists of 11 members (Public Broadcasting services): Romania ROTVR, Bulgaria BGBNT, Slovenia RTV SLO, Croatia HRHRT, Bosnia Herzegovina BABHRT, Serbia RSRTS, Montenegro MERTCG, Kosovo ZZRTK, Macedonia MKRTV, Hungary HUMTV and Albania ALRTV, in the SEE region and is directly coordinated by the ERNO Coordination Office situated at the BHRT building in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Every day Public Broadcasters in the Southeast Europe (SEE) send and receive, via Eurovision satellite, news items and pictures from and for their specific needs through the ERNO news exchange. The "South Eastern European Window - ERNO" is open daily 16:25 - 16:40 CET in the Eurovision satellite for the participating SEE countries to exchange their news items. All regional exchanges have the same first three letters (ERN-E stands for Eastern European Countries News Exchange...)
The coordination office in Sarajevo collects information, summarise it and distributes summaries, collects offers and demands, coordinates cooperation and the exchange, feeds data into EVN News Room Network in Geneva and keeps statistics. ERNO Coordination Office is also directly responsible for the editorial aspect of the ERNO news exchange by choosing the most relevant stories from the region every day based on offers and demands of the ERNO and other EBU members, as well as on the most interesting stories in region according to the ERNO Office staff. Content of the exchanged material in the ERNO regional news exchange varies significantly from the politically related stories like important state meetings, conferences and visits, culture events like film / theatre festivals, exhibitions and concerts to feature stories that portray life and customs in the region making South-East Europe an important source of the stories in the EBU system. ERNO is the main TV news picture source from the region to the region in the SEE.
From November 2001 to December 2009 ERNO members exchanged 9904 items in total and ERNO presents the main TV news picture source from the region to the region in SEE - up to 80 % of the ERNO exchanged items are being used in the main news and bulletins of the member TV Stations, as well as in other programmes, like morning and cultural programmes. In the period 2006-2010, ERNO Coordination Office and ERNO members co-produced five 25-minutes-long documentaries: Women Trafficking (2006), Green Paradise: Already Lost or Still Possible to Be Regained (2007), Youth Voices: (Un)Equal Opportunities (2007), What The EU Means to Us? (2008), „Balkans vision of the European Dream” (2009) and four 25-minutes-long episodes of the documentary “Cultural Heritage in the Southeast Europe” - Preservation, Communication, Tourism and Daily Life.
In 2007-2009 ERNO Coordination Office organized co-production of feature stories by ERNO members on HIV / AIDS and human rights which were all exchanged in the ERNO news exchange.
Between 2004-2009 ERNO Office organized and held 14 trainings and workshops on the usage of the digital editing software and media coverage of the issues like HIV / AIDS, human rights and EU integrations with the participation of more than 200 journalists, Eurovision News Exchange Editors, tape-editors, etc.
ERNO network is financed by the equal annual membership fee from its members.
Why ERNO? Some years ago every TV News desk in SEE used to get news footage from London or New York without problems. Pictures form a neighboring country also come via international exchange but only when international broadcasters and TV networks have decided to cover something for their own purposes.
Fundamental editorial policy decisions where indirectly taken outside the region. The challenge of this project is to create collaboration between the media across the borders in this region and across the political interests that earlier tried and partially succeeded in using the media as mouthpieces when stirring up armed conflicts.
The first ERNO news exchange went on the air on the 29th of November, 2000. One of the ERNO's main objectives has always been to reinforce the tradition of cooperation among the public broadcasters in the region, strengthen the professionalism of TV news staff and improve the quality of the news stories and bulletins.
We could also establish and run the production pool of cameras, crews and editing facilities free of charge for colleagues from the SEE Public Service.
Last update May 2010