CEI at 4th South East Europe Media Forum on “Access to Information – Sources for Investigative Journalism”

CEOs, editors-in-chief, leading investigative journalists, business professionals, governmental representatives, managers of publishing companies active in South East and Central Europe as well as representatives of NGO’s attended the Forum which, this year, focused on “Access to Information – Sources for Investigative Journalists”.
 
Issues such as tools for investigative journalism, access to information and media NGO’s, regional and international experience, transparency of media ownership and public information, accessibility of the secret archives were debated.

Such topics seemed particularly up-to-date considering that on the same days the Wikileaks phenomenon was in the spotlight. A lively round table on this topic was even included in the agenda with stimulating contributions from journalists and diplomats attending the Forum. 

 

The Forum was opened by László Kövér, Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, and Srgjan Kerim, President of the 62° UN General Assembly and Special Adviser for political affairs of the WAZ.

CEI Secretary General, Amb. Pfanzelter delivered a welcome speech underlining that “each actor concerned should contribute through its own means to improve the quality of the media as pillars of any democratic society”. He highlighted the CEI commitment in this respect and the remarkable cooperation with SEEMO to promote the role of free and independent media in the region.

The Forum offered the framework to present the CEI Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism (5.000 EUR) to the Romanian journalist Adrian Mogoş who was selected for his high-quality cross-border investigative journalism. A special mention was awarded to Iryna Khalip from Belarus and to Lydia Pavlova from Bulgaria for their valuable contribution to investigative journalism in their own countries. 

 

for more information: fabro@cei-es.org