Media actions in the post-election period, journalistic integrity, objective reporting and monitoring of the process during elections, the need for capacity-building in journalism to promote the profession, were some of the topics discussed at today’s event held as part of the Media Literacy Week by the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM), in cooperation with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
The event was opened by AJM President Mladen Chadikovski, who spoke about the state of play in the media in Macedonia and the challenges journalists faced, and also mentioned the need for additional trainings for journalists through the AJM Training Academy. “There is no good reporting without economic security, safety of journalists and continuous training. And all shall be in vein if there is no journalism without high-quality editorial desks, topics and research. Therefore, we must work on these several factors, said Chadikovski. Ioana Cosma, a representative of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), also spoke and emphasized the importance of transparency in the electoral process and the importance of journalists in it.
“This plays a vital role in every democracy, every society, but it is not enough. Another important segment in this entire process are the events in the period between the elections, because it is necessary to monitor the government’s actions, and media are of key relevance in this process,” Cosma said.
The event was divided into two sessions. The topic of the first session was “Observing Integrity in Journalism: Ensuring Accountability in Monitoring the Success of Government Policies,” and was discussed by Sashka Cvetkovska of IRL, Vasko Popetrevski of “360 Degrees,” Ana Petrusheva of BIRN and Miomir Serafinovikj of Telma TV. Each of these speakers presented their respective points of view on the topic from their own perspectives. They listed as key problems the lack of interest in the profession on the part of young journalists, the trend of reducing the quality of information presented by some of the media, the appearance of new online media at the height of pre-elections, the low salaries of the journalists and the average criteria of some of the media, the increasing presence of information published by PR agencies, ordered by the centres of power. The second session was dedicated to the “Training Academy of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia as a Driving Force in upgrading the Capacities of Media Workers, Ensuring Integrity and Accountability,” where the discussants who shared their experiences and standpoints included Lazar Sandev, who spoke about the legal aspects of training journalists, Marina Tuneva, who dwelled on the ethical dimension of training, and Besim Nebiu who spoke about how to strengthen professionalism using trainings intended for journalists.
Link of the entire event (VIDEO) – https://www.youtube.com/live/ZwBQE2WOTWM?si=lvLS0e16Ed1mlRuB
