Youth Forum in Skopje: “Representation of Minorities in the New Media in Central and Eastern Europe”

Photo: Marko Trosanovski (Macedonia), main project researcher, presenting at previous  forum in Sofia

The Youth Forum in Skopje, “Representation of Minorities in the New Media in Central and Eastern Europe” will take place on 3rd and 4th of March, and will make the venue where 50 young people from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe will participate and discuss on key questions related to minorities and new media, with the aim to discover how does new media in this region portray minorities and to what extent they can contribute to the promotion of diversity.

The forum is being hosted and organized by the Association for Education Mladiinfo International, and supported by the programmes of Europe for Citizens and the Central European Initiative. The opening of the Forum will take place on the 3rd of March, 2016 (Thursday) at 10:00 am, in Hotel Continental Skopje.

In addition, the Youth Forum will include a presentation on the results of the regional monitoring that was conducted in 12 new media in Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia and Macedonia, which examined the ways new media represent the ethnic minorities, migrants, asylum seekers, LGBT, as well as people with disabilities. The analysis of new media is first of its kind in the region, and as such will provide individual, as well as comparative results regarding the quality of the new media products in this region.

Furthermore, the Youth Forum will be comprised of four different panel discussions, to which the young professionals of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe will participate. The topics are as follows:

1. Main Panel: Youth Challenging Diversity: Representation of Minorities in the New Media (main discussion, conclusion and comments from the media monitoring);
2. Panel on Media Analysis: Are the Media Accurate in Mirroring Our Society? Positive and Negative Examples of Portraying Minorities in Online Media;
3. Panel on Civic Activism and Integration: Ambiguities of Minority Integration: What Civil Society Can Do To Improve It?;
4. Panel on Ethnic Minorities and Diversity: Youth as Ambassadors of Tolerance: Overcoming Prejudices and Creating a Multiethnic Mosaic.

At the end of the forum 10 recommendations for better media representation of minorities will be provided, along with advises on promoting diversity.

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You can also visit the official webpage of the project.