North Macedonia: Enhancement of capacities of the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services and the Public Service Broadcaster

Details: Published: October 16, 2023

Persons in Photograph (left to right): from left to right): RTA Assistant Dervisha Hadzic-Rahic, RTA Ulrich Hermanski, Project Leader Holger Albrich, BC Project Leader Dimitar Tanurov, Project Manager Andreea Pop, BC Component Leader 1 Saso Bogdanovski, BC Component Leader 2 Maja Stojanovska, EUD Programme Manager Sanja Frkovic-Gelevska, AAAVMS Director Zoran Trajcevski, AAAVMS Department Head Dragica Ljubevska, RTA Language Assistant Elizabeta Mladenovska.

EU Twinning
Project manager: Holger Albrich
RTA: Ulrich Hermanski
Component managers: Verena Schneider (CL 1), Michael Krons (CL2)

From January 2023 to January 2026, IRZ implemented the twinning project "Enhancement of capacities of the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services and the Public Service Broadcaster" in North Macedonia with a budget of EUR 788,000.

This twinning project aimed to support and improve the work of the two institutions mentioned above so that they can better cope with current and future challenges.

In recent years, North Macedonia has made significant progress in reforming its legal system and national institutions to promote freedom of expression in order to meet European standards and EU accession criteria. Despite this progress, these efforts have so far had only a limited impact, so consistent further development was necessary.

Freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones of a functioning democracy, and the project team and IRZ are committed to strengthening this right in the Republic of North Macedonia.

The overall objective of this project was to strengthen the institutional and administrative capacities of the Macedonian Media Authority and public- e broadcasting. In accordance with the legal and regulatory framework set by the EU and the best practices of EU Member States, the aim was to achieve more effective and efficient services.

The project consisted of two components, each dedicated to one of the project beneficiaries. Cooperation between the project partners had already proven successful, ensuring a coherent implementation process.

Component 1: Support to the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services (AAAVMS)

The AAAVMS faced challenges related to the country's ongoing legal reform, as laws and regulations that were in the approval process had an impact on the AAAVMS's working practices and needed to be harmonised with its own guidelines. To support this process, German experts offered capacity building in the form of workshops and training courses to support the implementation of the new laws and regulations as well as the directive. In addition, European best practices were jointly adapted to the Macedonian context and disseminated among staff to ensure sustainable capacity for the implementation of the AAAVMS directive in a changing national legislative environment.

Another objective of the agency within the framework of this twinning project was to promote media literacy and combat disinformation and unethical media reporting more effectively, including monitoring media coverage of human rights. The German experts met with their Macedonian colleagues to discuss specific topics and the best approaches for building staff capacity to effectively monitor and implement legal provisions on media literacy, detect and analyse disinformation , and monitor media content on human rights.

Component 2: Support for the public service broadcaster (PSB)

The second component focused on providing expertise to North Macedonia's public service broadcaster (PSB). This institution faces particular challenges arising from its field of work and historical context. The twinning project aimed to address these challenges through close cooperation.

One of the first objectives of the component was to improve the tools for monitoring and evaluating public opinion on public service broadcasting services.

In addition, the German experts supported the production of higher-quality programmes based on appropriate audience segmentation and improved journalistic and management approaches. This included the use of internet and social media channels and the introduction of international quality standards for journalistic work through training courses and workshops.

In addition to supporting the EU acquis, the German experts also worked to improve understanding of European standards and practices relating to media freedom and public service broadcasting within the institution. This work consisted of round tables and workshops, as well as case studies on media freedom standards and practices and the functioning of public service broadcasting in EU Member States.