20. 02. 2007

POLITICS AND MEDIA IN THE BALKANS

BELGRADE, February 20, 2007 (B92) -- British Council launches Politics and Media research project.

The project has been designed to stimulate debates about the role that media and politicians can play in strengthening democratic dialogue.

Its aim is to address the growing mistrust between politicians, media and citizens and to examine the influence of political spin vs. political reporting on citizens’ perceptions of politics in six participating countries (UK, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Montenegro, Croatia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan).

The two-day Belgrade debate named Communication Breakdown: Politicians, political reporting and public trust, began today. It will bring together representatives from all six countries. A group of some forty people who will focus on various topics including: Who’s responsible for the breakdown of trust and what is the proper role of politicians and journalists in ensuring the quality of political reporting.

Financial Times journalist John Lloyd met today with the students from the Faculty of Political Sciences where he presented guidelines for good journalism.

“Journalism, democracy, politics, civil society and citizenship are intertwined categories. Free society results in free journalism. A society can only benefit from well nurtured journalism. Quality journalism is worth fighting for. As we all know, many people have died for the cause”, Lloyd explained.

In his book “What the Media are Doing to Our Politics”, which has aroused controversy in Great Britain, Lloyd argues that the media has moved away from its  investigative role on the political scene to the role of instigators of mistrust toward certain politicians and the creators of indifference towards genuine events on the scene.

“Journalism needs its freedom and its power. I named my book “What the Media are Doing to Our Politics”. to say that media can really achieve much, and even be harmful to politics. However, they should primarily report, analyze, investigate and demystify the works of power”, Lloyd says.

The third in the series of debates will take place in Sarajevo, 18-20 June, and the last one in London in September this year to mark the end of the project.