Media Dialogue goes Balkan

The Week of Resilient Journalism: Media Dialogue Goes Balkans

December 2022

The international project week “Resilient Journalism” started in Skopje, North Macedonia to fight disinformation, fake news, and propaganda. “Youth4Media” in collaboration with “CIVIL – Center for Freedom” and financial support of the government of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany worked on the project together. A press conference opened the project week. The invited lecturers of the seminar and representatives of the mass media of North Macedonia, Kosovo, Ukraine, Germany, and Armenia talked about propaganda.

The co-founder of “CIVIL – Center for Freedom”, a journalist and a public figure Xhabir Deralla became the main organiser this year. He introduced the guests from Germany, Armenia and Ukraine.

The Chairman of “Youth4Media” Dr. Wolfgang Ressmann spoke about the development of the international project and the importance of joint mass media platform, where different countries can oppose disinformation and propaganda, in particular, the destructive Kremlin prop

Dr. Saso Ordanoski held a lecture “Political Communication: Between Debate and Propaganda”, where he told how propaganda emerged and explained the main differences between political debate and propaganda.

Kateryna Sokolova talked about Russian propaganda in Ukraine, the connection of the Russian propaganda narratives deepening during the Bosnian War and modern times. Kateryna Sokolova participates in the project as a representative of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Kateryna Sokolova 

A journalist and one of the media trainers of the international project “Media Dialogue” Lena Kronenbürger joined the press conference online from New York. She outlined the main problems faced by mass media in their fight against propaganda.

Participants and guests watched a teaser about the results of the international project “Media Dialogue” before and during the full-scale war of Russia against sovereign Ukraine.

Mkrtich Tonoyan, the head of the Armenian cultural NGO “ACOSS”, explained how art can be used both in favour of propaganda and against it.

After the theoretical part of the seminar, the participants were divided into five working groups: two video groups, a group covering local events, a blog group, and a post-production team. The post-production team will work throughout the week to process the finished media products. Participants will visit state institutions, public organizations, talk with experts in various fields such as political sciences and sociology.

Wolfgang Ressmann summed up the first day of “Resilient Journalism” seminar and emphasized the importance of building a strong network of journalists, researchers, and activists to build our democratic home.