UNESCO presented in Sarajevo the project “Building Trust in Media in South-East Europe: Support to Journalism as a Public Good”, with the support of the European Union

During the presentation of the project, Joshua Massarenti, Regional Project Coordinator at the UNESCO Antenna in Sarajevo, recalled “the crucial importance of the project’s partners and key stakeholders, such as the institutions, the regulators, the self-regulatory bodies, the civil society organisations and the media, to restore the trust in media and journalism in the region, by strengthening the ethics in the media, notably through self-regulation mechanisms, promoting governance of digital platforms and online media with a human rights-based approach, and adopting MIL policies and integrating them in formal education”. 

When it comes to supporting the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) skills of women and men, notably youth, by encouraging them to think critically, “our goal is specifically to integrate MIL curriculum into various subjects in elementary and high schools, as this is the only way to ensure benefits for all target groups”, underlined Borislav Vukojević, UNESCO MIL Consultant for Western Balkans. 

The urgency to address the spread of harmful content online forced the EU to take the lead in adopting a series of legislative acts, notably the Digital Services Act (DSA), with the aim of ensuring fairness, trust and safety in the digital environment. At global level, UNESCO has recently adopted guidelines for safeguarding freedom of expression and access to information in the governance of digital platforms through a multi-stakeholder approach.