PRIJEDOR, 09.02.2018. – At the beginning of November 2017 the realization of the project “Open TV” started by the Media Research Center from Nis in cooperation with the Youth Center “KVART” from Prijedor and other civil society organizations from the region. This initiative is funded by the European Union through a program of small grants “Protecting the freedom of the media and freedom of expression in the Western Balkans”. The main purpose of the project is straightening of local media that would lead to creating local TV stations. The biggest part of the project refers to production of media content and education of workers u potential local TV stations. In the case of our organization, produced media content is published on our web site www.zamisli.ba. The texts refer to topics of local significance with a critical approach, which is one of the main goals of this platform. During the three months of the project implementation, 5 videos, 22 texts and 53 photos were published. The production of these media content was realized by the production team which includes qualified persons from Prijedor, ready to critically, open and professional writte and report on topics important for the local community. Some of these topics are related to following and marking dates important in the caleneder of human rights, such as International children’s day, International Day of Tolerance, International Campaign “16 Days of Activism” and International Human Rights Day.
One of the key activities at the very beginning of the project was the selection of members and members of the production team. The problem in this the narrow choice of personnel and people with sufficient professional capacities to meet the tasks and obligations set by this project, since it is a relatively small local community where critical voices are very rare, and professional standards in most professions are at very low branches. After this activity was successfully re-launched and established professional production team, all other activities were realized without major difficulties.
The School for Open TV is being prepared, and it will begin in February.
This project has additional value to our organization in terms of linking and working together with civil society organizations that have experience in working on media projects or organizations specializing in working with the media. Only two years ago, the Youth Center “KVART” launched the platform www.zamisli.ba and every form of capacity building of the organization to better realize this long-term project was more than welcome. In this sense, the transfer of experience through joint work and joint overcoming of problems arising during the implementation of the project is significant.