AJM and the OSCE Mission to Skopje held a summer camp for young journalists in Ohrid
The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) in co-operation with the OSCE Mission to Skopje held a summer camp for young journalists in Ohrid from 13-16 July 2022.
The purpose of the educational training was to contribute to building the capacities and improving the professional standards of the young journalists in the newsrooms through socializing and exchanging of experience and skills. A key emphasis was placed on improving the co-operation of young journalists with their more experienced colleagues in the newsrooms, as well as the need for continuous journalistic formal and informal education.
The summer camp was opened by the AJM President, Mladen Chadikovski, who said:
“Today, young journalists are faced with even greater challenges, due to the digitization of the media. But if we look closely at this problem, on one hand it really gives more freedom in terms of access to information, but on the other hand if it is not channeled properly, it carries the risk of disinformation, misinterpretation of news and information, or with one word it calls the professional reporting into question. This is the moment that we all need to recognize and implement experience and young force that will make a change. Let’s accept the challenge together, because that’s the only way we can move towards positive changes and return journalism to where it belongs with real professionals who will proudly stand behind each of their media products.”
The Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Jeff Goldstein, also gave a welcoming address:
“Journalism plays a very important role in democratic states, especially investigative journalism. However, journalism is a difficult profession everywhere, and the challenges in North Macedonia are special, because there is an important economic factor – as you know better than anyone else. As a result, the number of young people enrolling in journalism studies at universities is too low. In order to counter these negative tendencies and in the direction of stimulating the interest of young people in the profession, to advance their professional skills, our Mission in partnership with AJM organized this summer camp.”
The covered topics and discussions between the participants and lecturers were on gender equality in media reporting, the future of media, experiences and practice in narrative journalism and journalism in the digital age.
Some of the summer camp participants are also members of the Section of Young Journalists at AJM, which was established at the end of 2021, the purpose of which is, among other things, networking between newsrooms, improving the socioeconomic status of young journalists, upgrading the skills for advanced reporting and respect of the standards in the journalistic profession.
This activity is a continuation of the cooperation between AJM and the OSCE Mission to Skopje, which in previous years were active together on topics related to the safety of journalists and building the capacities of AJM.
