This three-day event, held from March 31 to April 2, 2023 in Veles, consisted of many informative and interactive sessions led by prominent speakers and experts in the field of journalism and rule of law.
On the first day, the sessions started with a brief overview of the third module and introduction of the agenda topics and speakers of the fourth module. This was followed by an interactive discussion on the topic of Mediatization of politics: Ethics and Integrity, led by Nazim Rashiti from Alsat TV and Igor Micevski, Senior Researcher at the Research Institute on Social Development (RESIS), who emphasized the crucial role the media play into contemporary politics and party life and the importance of mastering the internal logic of the media, both traditional and the new social media. The night session was equally interesting, with the Film Director, Gjorce Stavreski, who led a thought-provoking discussion on the relationship between art, ethics and politics.
The second day started with two sessions: i) “Political Parties and Media: Internal Communication Strategy” and ii) “External Communication Strategy”, which highlighted the use of innovative communication tools, social media and media-friendly content, led by the International Political Party Specialist, Ian Gill. Whereas, the afternoon sessions were led by Dr. Aleksandar Spasov, who spoke about the “Democracy and the Rule of Law in a highly mediated context”, as well as Vasko Popetrevski, journalist/editor of 360 degrees, together with Ana Petrusheva, journalist and one of the founders of BIRN, who talked about the importance of public interest and the role of the politician, as well as the investigative journalism as the last shield of the public interest.
The third day started with a review of the Policy Documents and activities conducted during the community engagements. Each participant presented their own Policy Document, while explaining the whole development process, including the mentorship from the expert that was engaged during the whole process, and the experiences during their community engagements. The fourth module was concluded with a closing session, moderated by the Forum for Reasonable Policy staff, with a debriefing from all the sessions and heads up for next steps foreseen within the activity program of the Academy for Public Policy.
