CONFERENCE: “IMPROVING MEDIA EDUCATION: NETWORKING WITH EU JOURNALISM SCHOOLS”
“Improving Media Education: Networking with EU Journalism Schools”
📅 16–17 December 2025 | 📍 Skopje
Tuesday, 16.12.2025, 10:00 | Hotel Karposh, Skopje
Eurothink – Centre for European Strategies invites you to the Conference on Networking and Media Capacity Building.
Despite legal frameworks that protect freedom of expression and access to information, press freedom remains constrained by external pressures and intimidation tactics that lead to self-censorship. This environment undermines journalistic standards and negatively affects citizens’ ability to make informed decisions about their European future. The media landscape is further complicated by the rapid spread of disinformation, growing Euroscepticism, the declining quality of the journalistic profession, educational gaps in training programs, and limited exposure to European media standards.
This conference represents a networking and capacity-building initiative designed specifically to strengthen the capacities of media actors, students, and institutions in North Macedonia. It enables the direct transfer of knowledge between EU journalism schools and institutions in North Macedonia, creates opportunities for sustainable cooperation beyond the event, identifies needs for improvements in journalism education programs, strengthens the skills of lecturers and institutional partnerships, and develops opportunities for practical learning in line with EU standards.
The conference directly supports North Macedonia’s EU accession process by strengthening democratic institutions through well-trained journalists, combating disinformation through improved media literacy and fact-checking skills, building European awareness through higher-quality reporting on EU-related topics, promoting regional cooperation with countries of Integrating Central Europe, and implementing EU standards through direct familiarity with the requirements of the European Media Freedom Act.
The conference will bring together local authorities, media professionals, journalism schools, civil society organizations, EU experts, and students who will shape the future media landscape of North Macedonia. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of EU standards for media education and will establish concrete partnerships between journalism schools from the Republic of North Macedonia and the European Union.
The conference is organized within the framework of the project “Media for the EU” – Civil Society Program for Media Engagement in North Macedonia’s EU Accession Negotiations, with financial support from the European Union and the Central European Initiative (CEI).