On March 29, 2023, the kick-off conference of the Media4EU project took place in Skopje, North Macedonia. The conference, which saw the participation of 30 representatives of international bodies, national and local media and Civil Society Organisations, formally marks the beginning of the project and its activities.
“Media4EU – Civil Society Program for the participation of media in North Macedonia’s EU membership negotiation” is a 3-year long project dedicated to improving the standards of journalism and the media sphere of North Macedonia. The one-day conference began with a presentation of the project and its executives by Mr. Dimitar Nikolovski, Executive director of EUROTHINK – Center for European Strategies, leader of the project. It was followed by presentations on the importance of media and CSOs in the EU negotiation process of North Macedonia, featuring Mr. David Geer, the Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of North Macedonia, and Mr. Bojan Marchic, Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs, who highlighted the support that the government offered to the project and the importance of this type of projects in the battle against misinformation.
The conference continued with a presentation of the project activities and the grant scheme by the project consortium, composed by EUROTHINK, ALDA and BIRC – Balkan Institute for Regional Cooperation and it concluded with a Q&A session, where the participants had the opportunity to engage in constructive discussions.
Mr. Marco Boaria, Head of the Development Department of ALDA, briefly introduced the commitment of the Organisation towards the media topic, underlining the importance of the freedom of speech: “ALDA has consistently advocated for years for engagement in media and freedom of speech. A principle followed is that a plurality of voices and more opportunities for dialogue leads to better local governance and more opportunities for the grievances of citizens to be aired out.” – said Mr. Boaria.
Il progetto Media4EU mira a migliorare gli standard dei media e del giornalismo della Macedonia del Nord
L'obiettivo del progetto Media4EU è quello di accompagnare lo standard del giornalismo e dei media della Macedonia settentrionale a quello europeo, attraverso corsi di formazione, workshop e scambi con giornalisti europei per rafforzare le sue capacità e contribuire ad aumentare l'attrattiva della professione per i giovani. Il progetto riconosce che standard più severi per i media sono necessari per il processo di adesione del Paese all'UE e mira a essere una buona fonte di informazioni per i giornalisti e gli elettori, oltre a consentire opportunità di cooperazione tra media, società civile e istituzioni statali. Nel complesso, questa conferenza ha promosso il progetto e le sue attività e ha fornito un'eccellente opportunità di scambio e di networking nel settore dei media della Macedonia settentrionale.
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