The biggest casualty of the post-truth era is the trust in institutions, media outlets and politicians. They should all work openly, responsibly and professionally in order to improve transparency and accountability. This will provide for greater awareness and involvement of citizens in the making of decisions that affect them. This was the conclusion of the “Responsible institutions through increased transparency and political communication” Conference organized by the Institute for Communication Studies (ICS).

The Director of ICS, Zhaneta Trajkoska, spoke about the importance of maintaining decent and non-toxic communication in the public space, who emphasized that public figures and the media outlets mostly contribute to the “pollution”.

“The poisonous constructs of public figures transmitted through the media outlets and social networks not only contribute to the pollution of these platforms, but also seriously reduce the space for open and constructive debates on professional public communication of politicians, government and public institutions. The media outlets, on the other hand, rushing to publish every new piece of information, forget to ask themselves whether that particular piece of information is really news worth publishing and therefore knowingly or unknowingly contribute to the toxicity in the media space and in their media content. We are all collectively creating a poisonous media construct in which we live”, said Trajkoska.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said that transparency is not only an obligation, but also the basis of the plan for building a modern and democratic state. He pledged that his government will make every decision they adopt accessible, visible and understandable to the citizens and that they will be open to questions, criticisms and recommendations.

“There is no question that I have not answered and there is no topic that I am not open to discuss. Our tendency is to create environment for independent journalism and cooperation. Transparency is not a one-way process. The Government is ready to work openly and responsibly – all of you, however, also play a key role. I call upon you to be active, ask questions, look for answers, give recommendations – the power is yours”, said Mickoski.

For a greater level of accountability, he announced trainings for public administration and promised financial transparency for every cent in the budget and for every project from planning to implementation.

Daniel Filler, chargé d’affaires at the British Embassy in Skopje, spoke about the importance of having open political dialogue between the Government, media outlets, civil society and the public. In this context, he emphasized the need for free and independent media that will publish credible and verifiable reports, and the attitude of politicians towards them will be one of trust and respect. The civil society will have to play the role of a “watchdog”, he pointed out.

“When politicians communicate openly and transparently and match their words with their actions, they strengthen ties with citizens and reduce the space for disinformation. When the debate on the public interest is fact-based, the media publish accurate reports and political leaders are open to criticism and dialogue. That is a sign of a healthy democracy,” said Filler.

The findings of the nine-month ICS research on Measuring harmful political narratives (ШТЕТ-НА) were also presented. It was said that the politicians mainly used rhetorics that undermines the trust in institutions (3in 37% of the posts that included harmful narratives), partial selection of information (30%) and ad-hominem attacks (9%).

The speakers agreed that the polarization of societies is the root of the toxic rhetoric that undermines democracy, and in order to reduce the damage, the role of the media outlets in political processes and their role as correctors of the public discourse should be reconsidered. As a remedy for polarization and an alternative to black-and-white media content, journalist Kurt Strand from Denmark advocated for constructive journalism that promotes solutions rather than conflicts. Prof. Vaclav Štětka Ph.D. from Loughborough University, United Kingdom, spoke about the crisis of the liberal democracies in Europe. Dr. Alenka Jelen from the University of Stirling, Scotland, spoke about how to preserve democratic values ​​and ethical standards in public relations and political communication in the post-truth era. Dr. Iva Nenadić from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, summarized the obligations arising from the new European regulations on media. “What we have as a paradox is that those who create policies for media freedom are often the same ones who pollute the information sphere and undermine media freedom”, said Dr. Nenadić.

The conference was organized in the frames of the “Use Facts” project supported by the British Embassy in Skopje.