Cooperation between CEI and SEEMO: Mutual Added Value

Vujovic: The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is an organisation of media professionals from South, East and Central Europe. Created as a network of media owners, directors and editors-in-chief, SEEMO has been active in defending media freedom and in promoting quality journalism.

Press freedom activities promoted by SEEMO range from world-wide dissemination of protest letters highlighting individual cases, to targeted visits designed to seek solutions to concrete problems, or press-freedom missions covering comprehensive fact-finding on the spot. During a press freedom mission, SEEMO delegations usually meet presidents, prime ministers, selected ambassadors, relevant lawmakers and leading media owners, media CEOs, editors-in-chief and journalists. In many cases, SEEMO is the first and only organisation to have case-specific information thanks to its excellent regional and local networks.

As for the promotion of quality journalism and international professional standards, SEEMO organises conferences, trainings, workshops and meetings. All these events are characterised by high-quality attendance, ranging from top political leaders to media professionals.

SEEMO has also supported several independent projects, such as the International Media Center in Slovenia, the founding of the South East and Central Europe PR Organisation, the Istanbul Media Days the Belgrade Media Days and Roma Media Days.

Vujovic: The Central European Initiative (CEI) is a very important and successful cooperation partner for the Vienna-basedSouth East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO). We are honoured to be able to cooperate with such an important regional organisation.

Both organisations are regional and have a thorough knowledge of local issues. Therefore, their activities complement each other. SEEMO defends media freedom and promotes quality journalism, essential instruments of democracy. The CEI considers the promotion of freedom of expression in the media one of the essential elements of its overall strategy aimed at promoting regional cooperation for European  integration.

The CEI and SEEMO have been cooperating on various projects for years. The CEI is supporting the South East and Central Europe Media Handbook, a publication that presents information on media developments in South, East and Central Europe. The book also includes lists of contacts of the most important media outlets and media-related institutions in the region. Printed in 4000 copies each year, the media handbook is distributed free-of-charge to media, universities, state and professional institutions. In spite of the Internet, SEEMO has found that hard copies are still appreciated by numerous institutions and media researchers.

The CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism, established in 2008, has been highly appreciated among journalists. It has awarded those who have taken serious risks in order to publish information of public interest. The recent threats against journalist Drago Hedl, recipient of the 2008 award, is a relevant example of the prize. This award has become well-known not only in the countries covered by CEI and SEEMO, but also worldwide.

One of our main cooperation activities is the South East Europe Media Forum, the largest annual media event in the region.

Vujovic: The South East Europe Media Forum (SEEMF) is an annual event - organised by the CEI, the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and SEEMO - dealing with latest media issues. The last edition, which took place last November in Belgrade, was extremely successful both in terms of the number of participants (more than 400) as well as with regard to the quality of the event itself.

The Forum is usually attended by journalists, editors-in-chief, media CEO and media owners, professionals who often lack the time to follow latest developments. The participants learn from one another and establish new contacts that can lead to important joint media projects. The Forum represents an excellent platform for CEI’s visibility, also because CEI representatives have the opportunity to personally meet leading media representatives from CEI countries. Since the SEEMF takes place in a different country each year, both the CEI and SEEMO have additional opportunities to make firsthand contacts with local media and thus establish better communication relations and elaborate new projects.

SEEMO highly appreciates the fact that the CEI has recognized the importance of SEEMO’s work and expertise. I wish to take this opportunity to express my gratefulness to CEI Secretary General, Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter and to his professional staff for their excellent cooperation and commitment expressed over the years.