At the Red Cross of Serbia premises on 31 January 2019 a workshop for journalists was organised, entitled “Reporting on older persons”. The goal of the workshop was to increase the amount of objective reporting on ageing and older age. The journalists present at the worksho were greeted by Ljubomir Miladinovic, Secretary General of the Red Cross of Serbia and the workshop was moderated by Jelka Jovanovic who talked about the Journalists Code of Serbia and the rules for reporting, as well as the examples of good and bad practice.

Brankica Jankovic, Commissioner for Protection of Equality also participated in the workshop, emphasising the importance of objective, non-discriminatory reporting on older people as this is the precondition for older people to be equal participants in the society. With reporting, one must be aware that stereotypes and prejudices lead to strengthening the negative image of older people and their marginalisation and stigmatisation.

Red Cross of Serbia experts Natasa Todorovic and Dr Milutin Vracevic participated in the workshop and shared with the participating journalists some of their experiences with the media. It is certainly necessary to have as many as possible positive examples of older women and men contributing to the society, showing that they are not a burden but a developmental factor due to their knowledge, experience and wisdom.