Three awards with the stamp of ICS on the SEMM climate change contest
The story "Air pollution in Macedonia takes 5,000 lives a year as if we were at war" won the first prize in the competition for the best journalistic stories and photography on the topic "Facts and disinformation about climate change", published in the period May 2024/April 2025, awarded by the Media Ethics Council of Macedonia.
Political Communication and Media Reporting – A Reflection of a Society’s Maturity
Harmful narratives in political communication create a toxic public sphere, deepen divisions, and incite intolerance. It is a democratic duty for politicians to work on depolarizing public discourse and to address complex issues important to society through dialogue rather than through populism, character attacks, and undermining trust in institutions.
Invitation for a panel discussion “The Gordian Knot of Harmful Narratives in Politics and the Media”
Political communication based on ethics is key to building trust among citizens and protecting democratic processes. Political actors and the media have a responsibility to inform in a transparent and accurate manner, without manipulation, thereby preventing the spread of harmful narratives and polarization in society.
ICS`s Survey: Citizens are Skeptical of the Media but Rarely Verify Information
When asked about their ability to recognize disinformation, 41% of respondents believe they can sometimes identify it, 29% are confident they can always determine the accuracy of information, while 11% admit they cannot distinguish between false and true information at all.
Journalists Learn New Techniques for Investigating Environmental Topics
Participants learned techniques for environmental investigative journalism by working in teams to identify an environmental story as a case study they worked on.
Call for Master Classes on Media and Journalism
The master classes are intended for young people aged 19 to 34, including students, young journalists and those who want to upgrade their digital media skills.
Political Communication Without Standards: How Toxic Narratives Undermine Institutional Transparency
‘Zaevism’, ‘Artanoid’, ‘Zmicko’, ‘Vmroids’, ‘Northijistan’, ‘Vassals’, ‘Pawns’, ‘Casinoman’ and a spectrum of other words echoed in the pre-election period from the party megaphones. Aiming to offend the political opponent as much as possible, these and other language innovations were quickly accepted by the party membership who spread them on social networks and were uncritically broadcast by the media, thus becoming normalized in the public discourse.
Public figures and media outlets have responsibility against toxic rhetoric
The biggest casualty of the post-truth era is the trust in institutions, media outlets and politicians.
Proper preparation can save lives in case of an earthquake
The ringing of the school bell in the Bitola gymnasium was a warning sign – there is an earthquake! For a moment, fear reigned among the students. They quickly took cover under the desks, waiting for the bell to ring again, which was a sign that the ground had calmed down. Everyone slowly left the school building and evacuated to the yard. This ended the earthquake evacuation drill.
Conference: Driving Institutional Accountability through Open Political Communication
The Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) invites you to attend the conference "Driving Institutional Accountability through Open Political Communication", which will take place on December 4, 2024, starting at 1:00 PM at Hotel Holiday Inn – Skopje.