As the local elections in North Macedonia are approaching, the joint European Union/Council of Europe action Freedom of expression and freedom of the media in North Macedonia, supported the media regulatory authority body by organizing an online conference that addressed two very important issues when it comes to media and elections: (1) disinfomation and (2) access to information for people with sensory (and other) disibilities.
The online conference gathered relevant representatives in the field who actively participated in the discussions of the two panel sessions focused on the disinformation and their effect on the election results and reporting on the election process for people with sensory disabilities. Two international experts of the Council of Europe, as well as local experts, addressed each of the panel sessions and contributed to the exchange of knowledge and experience from the EU countries in the referred topics.
Research tells that placing disinformation in the course of the election processes not only may negatively affect the image of the individuals or political parties it targets, but it undermines the democratic elections. Thus, disinformation can influence voter’s opinion, cause increased polarization, degrade the quality of the political debate, suppress voter participation, and incite hatred or violence against political parties. During the first panel participants concluded that it is necessary to strengthen the media literacy of the population, as most powerful tool against disinformation.
The second panel discussed on the ideal vs actual situation on the election process and the access of people with disabilities to the overall process. In this context, people with disabilities should enjoy equally the right to take part in politics as other citizens, and they have to be included in the creation of the policies that actually support them to enjoy this right. By including people with disabilities in politics will help raise awareness on the topic. This was one of the actions proposed to be taken towards improving the access to media of people with disabilities.
This online conference was organized within the framework of the joint EU and Council of Europe programme Horizontal Facility for Western Balkan and Turkey 2019-2022, and the action Freedom of expression and freedom of the media in North Macedonia.
