Skopje, 24 January 2018 – A conference was held in Skopje today, dedicated to political pluralism in media reporting during periods outside of election campaigns. The conference was organized by the Macedonian Media Institute and the Council of Europe.
The goal of the conference was to stimulate discussion about this important issue among the relevant stakeholders in the country and, by including the experiences of and trends in the European countries, offer recommendations for promoting the current situation.
At the session dedicated to the mechanisms for promoting political pluralism in the media contents in Macedonia, the Director of the Agency, Zoran Trajchevski, Ph. D., held a presentation in which he highlighted the legal framework of the regulator and the Agency’s activities regarding this issue so far, as well as the recommendations for promoting political pluralism in the media. Some of the recommendations referred to the respect for the professional standards, in terms of providing political pluralism; organizing debates, roundtables and workshops to present the joint efforts of all stakeholders in the media community; ensuring, on the media’s part, presentation of the diverse political and ideological groups, including the minority standpoints and interests, as well as equal treatment of the diverse political stances.
The other speakers at the event stressed the importance of self-regulation in the media and building a system for protecting political pluralism. Part of the discussion was also dedicated to the experiences of the European communities in terms of political pluralism in media contents.