Journo Birds

03/12/2025

An old photo reminded me to look for the apple instead of “key messages”.

Hi, Marian here, head of Journo Birds. Recently, I found a pile of photos from a trip to Cyprus I took when I was 20.
Back then, I was obsessed with facts. I studied every map, date, and architectural detail.
But looking at those photos two decades later, my mind went blank.

The facts I held so dear had vanished.

Then I saw a photo of an elderly couple, and a voice echoed in my head:
“When I eat an apple, I eat every piece of it, the seeds, the heart, nothing is left. I survived the World War II and the famine.”

I don’t remember their names. I don’t know who said it. But 20 years later, when I eat an apple, these words come to me.

This is the “Apple Rule.”

Facts fade away, but sensory details that reveal human survival stick.

The challenge isn’t finding stories in exciting places, but finding the “apple story” in abstract topics like EU bureaucracy or digitalisation.

If you need to get attention to a dry topic, stop looking for the “key message.” Look for the apple. Find something specific that shows how that bureaucracy touches and changes a human life.

It’s great to be seen and recognised for three seconds, but if you can find the apple, they will remember you in 20 years!

06/11/2025

While most people move to big cities to chase their dreams, a small team in Cahul is quietly redefining innovation, proving that cutting-edge digital solutions can be created anywhere.

Even as the rest of the world is chasing scale and speed.

“Innovation is about solving real problems with the right tools and people,” says Dmitrii Caraguta, the co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Dlab.md, a Moldovan digital testing lab in Cahul. "It's not about size or location."

Do you agree?

(link to story below)

This story was written by Olga Cernea and supported by UMAEF.

Digital Lab

05/11/2025

How to get your story picked up by AI?

First, let’s look at facts: Around every fifth piece of content that appears in Google's TOP20 search is created by AI, according to Originality.AI’s ongoing study.

Already, the number of AI-generated articles has surpassed the number of human-written articles on the web! And as an MIT Study found, people actually find AI-generated articles of higher quality.

So - should we, as humans, keep telling stories?

A big fat YES!
But let’s also be clever about it.

AI is machines scraping information on the web. It is the average, biased brain where those who have better access to the internet and speak certain languages have an advantage. They have more data points. They are louder.

The ever-growing, indulging machine will only repeat and reinforce the mainstream ideas.
For example, if you search what Moldova’s new government looks like, ChatGPT (at the moment, the most used Large Language Model or LLM) will give you an answer based on ONLY foreign sources: Wikipedia, World Bank, Reuters. They trust Wikipedia more than local journalists.

So, if you are in the periphery (i.e., not in any of the major Western cities), the chances of your story standing out on LLMs are slim.

If you want your page to be picked up by LLMs, you need a clever strategy:

1) Post your story on platforms that are known LLM data sources, like Reddit, Quora, or GitHub discussions, and frame it as a question or an analysis.
2) Cite credible sources in your story, and feature expert quotes with credentials.
3) AI likes question-based headings and bullet points.

Or!

Why not also stand out among humans on social media and among local news media editors?
Make the readers (and viewers) think, and feel something. And maybe they’ll go and check you out.
Perhaps they'll even revisit your home on-screen.

Even if AI doesn’t see what you do.
Maybe humans will?

15/10/2025

The thing we forget when we work remotely...
Hi, Marian, the head of Journo Birds here.

I found myself repeating something during our team meeting that I think many of us need to hear more often:
“You are not alone.”

Just because we don’t sit next to each other doesn’t mean we’re not working together. It’s easy to forget that when you’re in your own head, trying to do your best. But you don’t have to do it alone.

A long time ago, in a real, physical newsroom, I used to turn to our editors and other journalists. We would talk through our stories. Even if sometimes I didn't know where the story was headed, I would get clarity by just sharing your thought process. I’d stop mid-sentence, ask questions, you know... having a human, messy conversation. Just to get things moving. With AI-powered remote work, many of us think we are expected to submit ready-made, perfect texts and videos.
But it shouldn't be the case! There is still a lot of value in verbally sharing ideas with another human.

That’s what the other team members are here for.

Call them. Send them a rambling, not-quite-knowing-where-this-will-lead voice message. Or why not meet them even?! Talk through your idea even if it doesn’t have a point yet. That’s how it starts. That’s what makes a great story. Because even if AI and your own mind can bring great output, in the end, it's another human you are creating for. Another actual human will look at or read your story. So involve them in the process!

We’re virtual. But we ARE working next to each other.
It just looks a little different.

Agree?

(For inspiration, here are photos of conversing humans. Lilia is filming)

22/09/2025

Next Sunday, Moldovans will choose their leaders and representatives for the next four years. The parliamentary elections are taking place.

These will be some of the most decisive elections in our history. For the first time, Moldova has cracked the door open to EU membership. There is a real, even if fragile, chance of joining the world’s largest trading bloc.

But will Moldovans choose this path?

Or will they be clever enough to ignore the very powerful Russian messaging machines? Last year, around 1 percent of Moldova's GDP came in from Moscow to influence the presidential election and EU referendum. This time, some experts estimate the number could be double.

Moldova is an invisible battleground.

And because of that, more journalists need support here. We decided to help and make their reporting easier.

Just over a week ago, we supported Norwegian journalists on the ground. And look what a powerful piece came out of it. So proud of them and the work we did together.

👉 Link to the article in the comments.
📬 Need support too? Contact us at info[at]journobirds[dot]com

08/09/2025

Should every story start with a human?

Here are two examples of the same story idea:

Example 1
A new initiative is preparing Moldova’s public sector for EU accession talks. It focuses on strengthening key state institutions and positioning the MDI as a premier EU training hub.

Example 2
On a grey morning in Chisinau, in a bare government room, Estonian diplomat Taavi Toom told Moldovan officials: “Join the EU for yourselves. For your children, your families, for cleaner air and food, for a better life.”

What’s the difference?
The first is just data. The second is humanized data.

Pure data, like Example 1, is useful for documentation. For recording, for reference, for Google. But if the goal is to create change (in thinking or in action), you need more than that. Nobody moves because of a fact. They move because of a feeling: hope, fear, anger, joy.

And if that’s the goal, we need to start with people. Humans bounce energy between each other like pool balls. And stories are the way that energy transforms.

So before you write, ask yourself: what’s the goal? If it’s to spark action or emotion, begin with a person. Lead with the most memorable quote, image, or moment. If it sticks with you, it will likely stick with others, too.

We are, after all, not that different, right?

29/08/2025

“I always had a lot of hunger,” Gleb Babiy told our journalist, Iurie Gandrabura. “Literal hunger and mental hunger. I just always wanted more.”

He has the confidence of a 22-year-old business owner who feels at home in Silicon Valley and New York.
But actually, he comes from a small, stateless place, Transnistria.

"I would write hundreds of personalized emails a day. Many of those people, when I came to San Francisco, reacted with ‘Oh my God, you’re real!’"

Read about the inspiring journey of someone who started with very little and built an empire.

https://www.moldovamatters.md/p/from-a-small-pharmacy-to-silicon

08/08/2025

One of the best things about Moldova is its lush countryside and deeply rooted farming traditions. Visiting the villages can feel like stepping back in time, a place where people still live closely with the land and animals, relying on them in ways many have forgotten.

But there is a side of Moldovan agriculture you do not often see, and it is not stuck in the past.

In our latest article for Startup Moldova, published in Moldova Matters, Iurie Gandrabura from Journo Birds writes:

“Moldovans don’t need to follow social media trends for green tech ideas. Almost everyone in Moldova is connected to the soil in the most literal sense.”

Agriculture remains vital to the country's economy, contributing 7.6 percent of GDP in 2023 and accounting for 45 percent of national exports, mainly to EU markets such as Romania, Italy, and Germany.

Moldova’s growth in oilseeds, fruits, and wine reflects a sector that is both traditional and quietly evolving.

https://www.moldovamatters.md/p/moldova-is-changing-its-agricultural

Dmitrii Albot CityFarm

Storytelling for nonprofits and development agencies. A team of journalists and videographers with 20+ years of experience.