Skopje, 24 January 2025 (MIA) — The world's democracies are under attack and supporting the media is an investment in defending democracy, according to EU Ambassador Michalis Rokas at Friday's event on recognizing and preventing disinformation that closed the EU Twinning project "Enhancement of Capacities of the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services and the Public Service Broadcaster."

In his remarks, Ambassador Rokas recalled that disinformation had caused "one EU member state to have to cancel its presidential election."

"Our democracies are under attack," he said, saying that EU Twinning projects were a way to "support the soft tissues, the vulnerable tissues of our democracies."

He said the EU Delegation was proud to support the local media. The project, he said, had involved around 650 experts, who held numerous discussions.

According to Rokas, the project outcome should be for the media to provide reliable and trustworthy information to defend democracy and support the hard work of journalists, editors and all media workers.

According to German Ambassador Petra Drexler, social media, digitization, and artificial intelligence had dramatically changed the media landscape.

"Most young people today, if you ask them where they get their information, will give you the same answer – social media," Ambassador Drexler said. 

"Social media has become a central source not only for information, but also for informing people's political opinions," she added, noting the risks of fake news, hate speech, and "algorithms that don't care about democracy."

The EU was making efforts, she added, to find ways to deal with these challenges.

"One of the answers is the adoption of the EU Digital Services Act, aimed at providing safer digital spaces while preserving freedom of expression," she said.

She said another way to support democracy was to strengthen journalism. 

"Supporting public broadcasting here in North Macedonia is one such investment in strengthening journalism, a European investment in democracy," she said.

The event was opened by project leader Holger Albrich, followed by speeches by the agency's council chair Lazo Petrushevski and MRTV editor-in-chief Dragan Nikolovski as well as Twinning advisor Ulrich Hermanski. 

A manual on recognizing disinformation, which was been developed as part of the project, was presented at the event as well.

Implemented by the IRZ German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation, the EU-funded project started in June 2023 and was aimed at strengthening the institutional and administrative capacities of the national public broadcaster and the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services. mr/