AJM and Goethe – Institute Skopje: Presented journalistic multimedia stories of a social nature

The Association of Journalists of Macedonia, in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Skopje, within the framework of the public call held a promotion of the journalistic content produced by four teams with a composition of two journalists each. The teams were mentored by a three-member expert jury composed of Aneta Dodevska, Filjana Koka, and Teofil Blazhevski.

The journalists who produced the stories are Magdalena Stojmanović and Boban Jovanović from TV Sonce on the topic “How to successful resocialization of former prisoners?”, Aleksandra Maksimovska correspondent from MIA, and Suzana Andonović from Radio Boom on the topic “Discrimination of Roma women”, Aleksandra Maksimovska from TV Alfa and Violeta Kozinkova from TV 24 on the topic “Villages in Eastern Macedonia without a doctor” and Teodora Cvetkovska from “Pina” and Daniel Vasilev from 360 degrees on the topic “Protected only on paper – people with disabilities left on their own”.
The president of AJM, Mladen Cadikovski, and Katrin Ostwald-Richter, head of the Goethe-Institut Skopje addressed the event.

Chadikovski in the opening speech welcomed the implementation of the competition and emphasized that it is necessary to have more activities of this nature to touch on topics that do not always receive a place in the public’s focus.
“I am delighted that we are together here to continue the promotion of journalistic content produced by colleagues in the past period in cooperation with the Goethe Institute Skopje. It makes me happy for two reasons: The first is that it is a question of quality content that was worked on with great dedication, and in a few minutes you will witness that for yourself. The second reason is the solidarity between colleagues, one of the goals of this public call that we worked with Goethe – Institute Skopje. The topics were related to social problems, that is, issues related to society’s perception of people’s personal lives. Often, all of us as participants in society know that they exist, but for various reasons, we fail to give them the importance they deserve.”
Kathryn Ostwald-Richter said “We are gathered here today because some of you have done a great job of documenting social issues in your country, making them tangible through journalistic means and methods. We were very enthusiastic about the topics chosen by the jury and we are very pleased with the results. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Association of Journalists of Macedonia, the leader of the project, and the participants. In any case, we wish them to reach as large an audience as possible!”

The announcement was published in June, and it was related to social topics, that is, issues related to society’s perception of people’s personal lives. Different communities have different perceptions and what may be “normal” behavior in one society may be a significant social issue in another society. Social topics cover a wide range of topics and can be in the domain of public health, environment, rights of the LGBT community as well as other marginalized groups, human rights, topics of local public interest typical of rural areas as well as gender equality.
The created stories will be published on the AJM website at the end of October.