The Albanian Helsinki Committee, in cooperation with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tirana, on March 18-19, 2021, organized the Regional Media Conference “Digital Media in a new era: The route to self-regulation, ethics and independence”, which aimed to address the challenges and solutions of media representatives, in terms of professionalism, ethics and independence from a regional perspective, in all Western Balkan countries (WB6).
During 2 days, 38 experts and over 150 participants from Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia shared their views on important media-related topics, such as: Self-regulation, the rights of journalists in the workplace, freedom of expression in the face of the right to privacy and family life, protected by Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the impact of COVID-19 on the media, fake news, misinformation, propaganda, etc.
For more information about the Regional Media Conference, topics covered and participating experts or to attend the full sessions, you can visit the online platform:
In order to further address these issues, the Albanian Helsinki Committee open the call for application for advanced articles/videos in the field of media freedom, giving journalists and media experts the opportunity to realize their innovative ideas towards media integrity and independence, in the countries of the Western Balkans.
Through this competition 8 journalists or groups of journalists will be selected to produce articles/videos, financially supported with a scholarship up to 1,100 Euros (minus income tax), while they will have a 3 week period available to complete their articles and preparing the articles/videos for publication.
- Topics of Interest
Candidates must formulate a detailed proposal for the application, while priority in the selection will be given to proposals which include one of the following topics:
– The effectiveness of Ethics Councils in Western Balkan Region: A comparative look at the contributions they have made
– Positive models of media self-regulation as well as the international standards/practices related to them
– Working conditions of journalists and violation of rights in the workplace
– Organizing media workers in a trade union – The path to be followed
– Media in the face of government propaganda – Challenges of rejecting ready-made news
– Fake news- Vaccine against fake news
- Criteria and conditions for application
Applicants can submit more than one application, but only one proposal will be selected.
All journalists or media experts in Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, employed by other media or in the freelance profession, have the right to apply, if they meet these criteria.
– Have at least 5 years of work experience;
– Have very good knowledge of English (articles/videos will be done in local language and English)
Priority will be given to applicants who:
– Have experience in investigative journalism;
– Have been awarded prizes during their professional career;
– They have shown integrity in practicing the profession.
- Application Package
Interested candidates should submit:
-A project-idea, where they describe the cause for which they seek support, orienting policy-making institutions, the media and the interested public towards problem solving. The project idea cannot be more than two pages, written in Times New Roman 12.
– CV in English
– Documents proving the fulfillment of the criteria and conditions of the call (ID, diplomas, awards, reference letters etc.);
– 1-2 examples of their previous work (articles, videos, researches, etc).
- Application procedure
The required documentation must be submitted to the address office@ahc.org.al
Deadline for application: 5 June 2021.
- Evaluation Procedure
The evaluation will be carried out by a commission, which will consist of representatives from AHC and Media Partner Organizations in the Region, a representative from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tirana and a domestic media expert from Albania.
- Mentoring and visibility
Winning candidates will be mentored during the production of the video/article from a group of media experts.
The winning candidates will be encouraged to enable the visibility of their works on media, social media, etc., in parallel with the visibility that AHC and partner organizations in the region will realize for these works through their social networks, activities, etc.
