Europe

This is a reference tool for media accountability and self-regulation systems in SEE, Europe and at international level. The tool is developed under a thirty-months UNESCO project co-funded by the European Commission and UNESCO, targeting EU candidate and potential candidate countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Turkey, Serbia and Kosovo (under UNSCR1244). The project is ending in February 2011.

Here one can find models for setting up and managing press councils, success stories, descriptions of the councils at the national level (statutes, attributions, funding, decision mechanisms, links to their sites, contact persons, etc), collection of codes of ethics and codes of conduct, rulings of press councils (or similar bodies) on infringements of journalistic professional standards, virtual networks of professionals with an interest in the issue (ombudsmen, press councils members, journalists, academics), tools for teaching/implementing professional standards in the media.

About the Project

This UNESCO project intends to encourage, assist and accelerate media reforms in the EU candidate countries (Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey) and EU potential candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244), consolidate European standards on media accountability and self-regulation.

Project focuses on two main area of interest:

  1. developing the self-regulation tools and mechanisms and increasing the awareness and the valorisation of self-regulation among media professionals and organizations and, on the other hand,
  2. speed up the approximation of the EU and international standards and best-practices in the field of media accountability in the targeted countries, especially in the field of audiovisual services and media legislative frameworks.

This project builds on, and consolidates, the expertise in the countries and in the region, as well as puts in a regional context the pre-existent initiatives at the national level. In some countries self-regulation bodies have been established but they are largely described by media associations and organizations as either ineffective or non credible. In some other countries, workshops and studies highlighted the need for self-regulation mechanisms to be developed, but little has been done and still a wide consensus around the most effective implementation is lacking.

In addition to this reference tool, UNESCO will develop supporting documentation, assist newsrooms in the targeting countries to experiment self-regulatory mechanisms, and will produce a “how-to” guide for the newsrooms interested to build their own accountability systems. The program will also facilitate the organization of two international thematic brainstorming meetings and local events in each project countries to bring together the relevant stakeholders.

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