The Treatment of the Term “European Values”

The Project aims at examining what Macedonian print media understand under the term ‘European values’ and their representation. The Project, thus, encompasses a research aimed at gathering data on the way/s in which the European Union and the system of European values in general is portrayed in Macedonian daily print media: Дневник, Нова Македонија, Утрински весник, Вест, Вечер, and the weekly Фокус. Through quantitative and qualitative analyses, the project aims at providing answers to the following questions: how do Macedonian print media interpret the contents of the term “European values”; do Macedonian print media support the systematic implementation of values akin to European values; what is the percentage of their representation, and is there any difference in the attitudes presented by different media, or do they all promote the same politics. The primary aim of the project is to present a well-researched and well-supported exploration of possible improvement in the editorial politics of said media in terms of the European value system. Particular focus will be paid to: instigating and supporting editorial practices that focus on a wider and more inclusive informing on European values, thus widening the public’s (and journalism students’) more inclusive understanding of the same. Projected results include: gathering a clear image of the way/s Macedonian print media speak of/about the European value system; gathering a clear and winder understanding of the term “European values” (with key emphasis on the social inclusion of cultural, ethnic and gendered identities, as well as minority rights); promoting fully the results of the research; creating an awareness of the need for a more inclusive and fuller media coverage of European values by instigating an awareness among the reading public of their key role in the process of EU integration.
The Project’s Conveners: Professor Loreta Georgievska-Jakovleva, PhD (coordinator); Professor Mishel Pavlovski, PhD (participant); Natasha Ilievska-Tanevski, MA (secretary); Professor Suzana Dzamtoska-Zdravkovska, PhD (lecturer), Tamara Chausidis (participant); Aleksandra Jurukovska (participant); Dejan Georgievski (MDC, partner organization)

The Project has been supported by USAID