Macedonia Archives - Page 10 of 13

Balkan Insight Media Watch Page Launched

BIRN has launched a special focus page on media in the Balkans – the first of its kind in the region.

All media-related news and analysis from the Balkans are now available on Balkan Insight’s Media Watch Page.

It features a brand-new analysis package on the media situation in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Serbia.

It also features a regional analysis on the role of the EU. Some praise the EU for pushing for the adoption of media legislation that meets European standards. But others are more critical, saying that the EU should have been much more proactive in combating growing political pressures on independent media.

The launch comes ahead of the second ‘Speak Up!’ conference on June 20, at which the European Commission will gather hundreds of media experts from all over Europe to discuss media freedom in the Western Balkans and Turkey.

In its progress reports, the European Commission has repeatedly set out its concerns about restrictions on freedom of expression and the media in the Western Balkans and Turkey, noting that threats to freedom of expression also threaten the foundations on which the “union of values” is built.

In an effort to identify solutions, the European Commission’s ‘Speak Up’ conference is bringing together participants from international, regional and national media organisations, civil society, academia and national administrations.

Macedonian Health Issues Put in the Frame

About a dozen journalists and representatives of civil society organisations that treat health issues on June 12 in Skopje discussed priority concerns and problems in this field in Macedonia.

The debate, entitled “Health and rights of the patients”, was organized by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Macedonia in partnership with the Center for Civil Communications.

Participants from civil society agreed on the need for cooperation between media and the NGO sector, especially on informing the patients and on raising awareness in the population about health problems, prevention, overcoming taboos and informing people about risks.

NGO representatives also said that the interest in the media in health issues had seriously declined in the recent period.

Journalists on the other hand said that some NGOs, especially those working with patients’ rights, were hard to reach and not open enough for cooperation.

The NGO sector suggested designing or developing a form of continuous contact between the media and journalists and a database that will gather all the analysis and activities of the non-governmental organisations.

The debate was organized as part of the “Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation between Media and Civil Society.”

It was the ninth in a series of 10 debates organized as part of the project funded by the USAID Programme for strengthening the independent media in Macedonia.

The subjects were selected at a meeting between journalists and NGOs in mid-April.

Other topics include ethnic relations, education and youth, human rights, EU integration, cultural policy, environmental issues, good governance, quality of life and marginalized groups.

BIRN Macedonia Puts Focus on Ethnic Relations

About 20 NGO representatives and journalists on June 7 discussed priority issues, problems and challenges in the field of inter-ethnic relations in Macedonia.

The debate organized by BIRN Macedonia in partnership with the Center for Civil Communications was held in the “Libraria E Çarshisë” (Old Bazaar Library) in Skopje’s Old Town, a place where all the main ethnic communities in the country interact.

The participants agreed that while ethnic relations have been top news items in the last couple of years, they are rarely addressed properly.

Journalists and NGO representatives agreed that bad news should not be the only news, and that good and positive examples should be followed and covered.

A more systematic and continuous approach is missing in this field, as is the political will to make needed changes in education, it was noted.

One of the most important issues spotted in the current year is hate speech as well as inappropriate and offensive chanting at sports events based on ethnicity.

The debate was organized as part of the “Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation between Media and Civil Society.”

It was the eighth in a series of 10 debates organized as part of the project funded by the USAID Programme for strengthening the independent media in Macedonia.

The subjects were selected at a meeting between journalists and NGOs in mid-April.

Other topics include health, education and youth, human rights, EU integration, cultural policy, environmental issues, good governance, quality of life and marginalized groups.

Macedonian Cultural Policy Put Under Spotlight

BIRN Macedonia in partnership with the Center for Civil Communications brought together journalists, NGO representatives and artists to talk about Macedonian cultural policy on June 4.

The panel discussion was aimed at detecting common issues between journalists who write about culture and NGOs working in the same sector.

It was organized as part of the “Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation between Media and Civil Society.”

The panel was the seventh in a series of 10 organized as part of the project funded by the USAID Programme for strengthening the independent media in Macedonia.

The subjects were selected at a meeting between journalists and NGOs in mid-April.

Other topics include health, education and youth, human rights, EU integration, ethnic relations, environmental issues, good governance, quality of life and marginalized groups.

Dozens of different issues were discussed with journalists as potential investigative stories.

NGOs called for a more analytical and in-depth approach to cultural issues, urging the media not to focus only on positive-sounding articles.

Journalists and NGOs use different language and expressions, it was noted, an issue that should be tackled to improve the relationship and make cooperation more efficient.

Panelists concluded that although some topics might be off limits for publication in some media, journalists should cooperate with NGOs to find ways to open up those topics and reach the public through different, alternative channels.

BIRN Macedonia Debate Tackles Education and Youth

Several dozen representatives of NGOs and journalists debated priority issues in the field of education and youth on May 30 in Skopje.

The panel discussion was organized by BIRN Macedonia in partnership with Center for Civil Communications.

Education and youth was the fifth panel discussion organized as part of the “Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation between Media and Civil Society”.

The project is funded by the USAID Programme for Strengthening Independent Media in Macedonia.

The NGOs tried to explain the problems they face in their bids to reach audiences important to their work, and highlighted the difficulty of increasing interest in the media in these topics.

The journalists noted, and all participants agreed, that NGOs should focus on cooperation with those journalists that they already established, and not to spend time and effort on changing the mindset of the media at large.

It was also noted that the traditional press conference is no longer an efficient tool of communication and other means of bringing the results of the work of NGOs should be used.

The panel was the sixth in a series of 10 organized as part of a project for investigative journalism and cooperation between media and civil society.

The subjects were selected at a meeting between journalists and NGOs in mid-April.

Others include health, cultural policy, education and youth, human rights EU integration, inter-ethnic relations, environmental issues and marginalized groups.

BIRN Macedonia Holds Debate on Human Rights

The human rights situation in Macedonia was the topic of the fifth debate organized on May 28 by BIRN Macedonia in partnership with Center for Civil Communications in Skopje.

The debate was organized as part of the Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation between Media and Civil Society funded by the USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

About 20 NGO representatives and journalists talked about possibilities and ways to cooperate on human rights, which are a priority in Macedonian society.

NGO representatives highlighted the fact that the media are not as interested as they might be in some of the issues that non-governmental organizations are working on.

They suggested that NGOs and journalists should help each other more in promoting and developing important stories.

Journalists outlined some of the key topics that interest them and asked how best to develop these topics into media stories.

The debate was the fifth in a series of 10 organized as part of the project on investigative journalism and cooperation between media and civil society.

The subjects were selected at an earlier meeting between journalists and NGOs in mid-April.

Others include health, cultural policy, education and youth, human rights, EU integration, ethnic relations, environmental issues and marginalized groups.

BIRN Macedonia Holds Debate on Good Governance

About 20 journalists and representatives from civil society held a debate on May 21 in Skopje on good governance in Macedonia.

The debate was organized by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Macedonia in partnership with the Center for Civil Communications, part of the Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation between Media and Civil Society funded by the USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

Journalists and NGO representatives agreed that the topic good governance is broad and that there are dozens of priorities for Macedonian society, such as corruption, quality of the public services and accountability of institutions.

Participants agreed that journalists and NGOs should help each other and use the tools that each has as its disposal to detect and giving bigger visibility to the problems.

The debate was the fourth in a series of 10 being organized as part of a project for investigative journalism and cooperation between media and civil society.

The subjects were selected at a meeting between journalists and NGOs in mid-April.

Others include health, cultural policy, education and youth, human rights EU integration, inter-ethnic relations; environmental issues; and marginalized groups.

BIRN Macedonia Launches Call for Investigative Reports

BIRN Macedonia, together with Centre for Investigative journalism, SCOOP Macedonia and the Centre for Civil Communications launched a call for investigative stories on May 17.

The call is part of the ‘Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation Between Media and Civil Society’, part of a USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

In the first call that closes on June 7, at least five journalists will be awarded a grant to cover their expenses while doing the investigation and writing the story. More calls for investigative grants will follow, for a total of 40 stories until June 2015.

Journalists will have about three months to dig deeper and research their ideas, but also will have the opportunity to work with experienced editors as their mentors to guide them through the process of writing to BIRN standards.

Topics for investigations include: health; cultural policy; education and youth; human rights; EU integration; good governance; inter-ethnic relations; environment issues; marginalised groups; quality of life.

The call only applies to journalists from Macedonia.

Click here for more detailed information.

BIRN Macedonia Holds Debate on Quality of Life

Quality of life was the subject of a debate in Skopje on May 15 organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Macedonia in partnership with the Centre for Civil Communications, part of the USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

Journalists and NGO representatives spoke openly about problems in Macedonian society – highlighting high poverty and unemployment rates, misuse of the minimum wage, living conditions in rural areas, demographics and disproportional regional development. Both the NGO representatives and journalists agreed that there is a state strategy to address these quality of life issues but that it mostly stays on paper without serious implementation. The journalists also questioned the NGOs on their data and about the possibilities of future cooperation on specific topics.

The debate was third in a series of 10 which are being organised as part of a project for investigative journalism and cooperation between media and civil society, funded by USAID to strengthen independent media in Macedonia. The subjects were selected at a meeting between journalists and NGOs in mid-April. Other debates topics include health; cultural policy; education and youth; human rights; EU integration; good governance; inter-ethnic relations; environment issues; and marginalised groups.

BIRN Macedonia Holds Debate on Marginalised Groups

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Macedonia in partnership with the Centre for Civic Communications organised a debate on May 13 in Skopje entitled ‘Detecting common issues as a basis for cooperation between journalists and non-governmental organisations about the inclusion of marginalised groups in society’.

The debate about marginalised groups and the problems they are facing in Macedonia was the second in a series of nine held as part of the ‘Project for investigative journalism and cooperation between media and civil society’, which is part of a USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

Debates are being organised on topics selected at a large meeting between journalists and NGOs in mid-April. They include: quality of life; health; cultural policy; education and youth; human rights; EU integration; good governance; inter-ethnic relations.

About 20 journalists and representatives of non-governmental organisations took part in the latest debate, talking about possibilities and ways of cooperation.

The NGO representatives concluded that media often publish negative reports about marginalised groups, and emphasised that sometimes positive examples can be useful for tackling certain problems.

They listed dozens of topics concerning marginalised groups that are a priority for society and need to be tackled.

The journalists showed interest in most of the topics, asking for more details about some of them, but adding that cooperation with the NGOs should be intensified because writing about marginalised groups is sensitive and needs serious preparation.