Macedonian non-profit to open journalism university

Maastricht - September 13, 2007

The telephone cannot conceal the proud smile on Biljana Petkovska’s face as she discusses the Macedonian Institute for Media’s plans to open a three-year college for journalists.

“You know,” she says, chuckling, “We’re running one hell of an operation down here.”

In November, the six-year-old institute will apply to the Ministry of Education of The Republic of Macedonia for the accreditation it needs to open a university for journalists. It plans to continue some of its non-profit activities alongside the for-profit school.

The MIM has already achieved most of the criteria necessary to go on the free market as a university, Petkovska says, so it expects its application will be approved.

The MIM is in its fourth year of mid-career training with its “One Year School for Journalism,” run out of its Skopje training facility. But it plans to open a three-year program starting in September, 2008, Petkovska says.

Petkovska, the senior program coordinator at the MIM, says the institute graduates about 25 journalists each year from its one-year program. It hopes to enroll about 50 students each year in its university-level program.

Journalism education is just one sector trying to prepare for foreign investments Macedonians hope will bring the country closer to the economic stability it needs to secure membership in the European Union. The landlocked Balkan nation of roughly 2 million people is at present an EU candidate country.

“We would like really to bring European standards here and establish cooperation with our students and European students,” Petkovska says. “We’d like to bring Macedonia closer to Europe as much as it’s possible.”

Most journalism education in the former Yugoslav federation is theory-based, so the MIM has found its niche in practical, hands-on training. Its one-year students presently use MIM facilities to interview politicians, aid workers and civil servants about various topics. The MIM then uses its contacts in the mainstream media to make sure its students’ pieces air on popular radio and television channels.

“It may sound strange for some countries that you have national coverage but for us that’s easy,” Petkovska says as she mentions she can drive from one side of her country to the other in less than three hours. “Whenever we make media projects we are trying to make national coverage.”

The European Journalism Center is just one of the new partners with which the MIM will liase as it moves forwards with its plans to expand.
The MiM recently invited EJC, represented by Project Executive Josh LaPorte, to be a part of their latest board. 
“We are delighted MiM chose EJC as a key partner in their future strategy, which takes into account Macedonia’s steps toward deeper European integration and the need for the media community to report on and analyze them thoroughly.” LaPorte said.

Petkovska took time early in September to discuss the university and other MIM projects with the EJC:

Question. How will the university be structured?
Answer. One group of students will study journalism and the other group will study PR. These are the plans and we hope that we’re going to make this together with our partners the Danish School of Journalism because they are one of the founders of the MIM. Most of our know-how is based on their methodology. The Danish School of Journalism is based in Arhus and is one of the oldest journalism schools in Europe, I think.
So until now we had a very good productive cooperation. We have their know-how, we have 15 trainers here trained by the Danes. So there is a local capacity who can deliver practical media information.
Q. What are some of the other programs MIM operates?
A. In November we launch for the third time a Roma mainstream media program. That means that we educate young, talented Roma people to work for the mainstream media. By this, we want to achieve that we stimulate news diversity and we give chances to about 12 Roma students each year to become part of the process of creating the editorial policy and therefore to effect public opinion. The idea is that they don’t cover only Roma-related issues.
Q. You also work with NGOs, correct? In what capacity?
A. We provide training for them on basic media communication so they know in the future how to communicate with the media how to organize their press and press releases and how to find the newsworthiness in the projects they’re creating so they can get more visibility and publicity.
Q. Is this where the students in the One-Year School for Journalism get material for their broadcasts?
A. Yes. The students had last year a television show which is called Our Circle and that was covering civic projects. Our idea was to stimulate civic journalism. Civic journalism is also part of a module they have in the program.
Q. How do the visa regulations for citizens of Macedonia affect journalists?
A. It makes it very difficult for journalists on one hand but for students even more. It’s really a tough issue. It’s really a frustrating one because you can find here students who have never been outside the region. Even if they have money it’s very hard to get visas. We have here some really talented, brave, bright young people who are well-educated and it would be good for them if they can mix with European students and travel. But this visa regime is really awful.
Q. What is the media landscape like in Macedonia?
A. Generally speaking we have a lot of media. When you speak in international terms from the aspect of marketing orientation and the commercials that are supposed to finance the operation I think it’ really a time where the numbers should be downsized. Because there is no economic logic in such existence. You have a market with two million people and there are about 200 news media outlets. So that’s really a lot. These are just the ones we know, broadcast media, magazines. I’m not counting online issues. That’s something else.
Q. Are there as many media owners as papers? Or is ownership concentrated in a few hands?
A. There are also a lot of media owners. But also those that are mainstream media and most influential, they do not belong to one person but the ownership is diversified. We have a situation where presidents of political parties have very influential national media especially television. They’re owners of that, maybe their sons or someone in the family.
Q. I know that the United States Agency for International Development – one of your partners – has made Macedonia the first all-broadband wireless country its size or larger in the world. What are the implications of this project for online journalism?
A. We have very good Internet coverage all over the country and the percent of people who use Internet is growing fast. So also the development of IT technology is something the government is really focused on. It’s something we think will be attractive for foreign investors.
Q. How does it impact blogging? Are blogs popular in Macedonia?
A. Yes, blogging is very attractive. It is also there are a lot of popular journalists that have their blogs. Blogging sort of opened a new dimension of exchanging thoughts and ideas and exchanging. It’s something growing, something that’s very popular. Mainly among young people.

Posted on September 13, 2007 by .
Filed under news.