Thursday, 8th October 2009
Creating better communication between the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and the Media
Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the School of Journalism and Public Relations organized the Round Table on “Creating better communication between the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and the Media through openness and access to information”
Zaneta Trajkovska, Snezana Trpevska, Vladimir Misev from the School of Journalism and Public Relations; Emil Atanasovski from the Westminster Foundation for Democracy; the Vice-President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Rafis Aliti; Todor Pendarov, representative from the Cabinet of the President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia; Members of the Parliament and journalist took part in the debate.
The aim of the Round Table was:
- Presentation of the program and the activities of WFD and the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia in the area of access to information.
- Continued strengthening of the communication between the media and the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia through promotion of dialogue, open discussions and cooperative approach.
- Identification of the areas in the relations between the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and the media where there is space for progress.
The WFD representative pointed out that the aim of the project is to promote the EU- Integration of the Republic of Macedonia through assistance in practical reforms necessary for NATO and EU membership, as well as strengthening of the capacities of the political parties, the Assembly committees and the Assembly Staff for more effective work of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia.
The participants from the School of Journalism and Public Relations emphasized that the many journalists report on the activities of the Assembly, and the activities of the Assembly are the most frequent topics on the daily agenda of the media, but the journalists are exposed to various pressures from the editors and the owners of the media and from the politicians, and the managers and editors do not really understand the complexity of the parliamentary reports, and the owners and the companies have a significant influence on the editor’s policy.
The introduction of e-parliament was underlined as a positive development, as well as the “Assembly open day”, which contribute to the transparency of the work of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia.
It was suggested that it would be good to prepare a research paper on the organization and work of the future Information Centre in the Assembly, as well as a strategy on communications of the Assembly.
One of the remarks in the debate with the MPs was that, even though the Assembly is formally opened for the media, it does not provide sufficient conditions and recourses work their work, and that the journalists face numerous problems when they are trying to get statements from the MPs. On the other hand, the media are full with sensationalist and controversial topics and show very small interest for the essence of the issues.
The general conclusion was that meetings like this should be organized more often so that the opinions from both sides can be heard, aimed at strengthening the communication between the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and the media.