News

‘Komunikacijos mokykla’ (Communication School) and the Lithuanian Journalist Union together with partners in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, have started the implementation of the project ‘the role of the media during the election campaign: training of the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian journalists’. The project is a part of the Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion programme.

In all the three countries, the election of the parliament or the President has already been or will be organized in 2008. Therefore, the role of the media in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia during the pre-election campaign and the actual elections will be explored and delineated clearer based on the experience of Lithuania and other Member States of the European Union.

While implementing the project, five training seminars will be organized for the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian journalists. The first couple of trainings of the representatives of the Georgian national and regional media were met with big interest. 28 journalists took part in the seminar.

This project aims at promoting the development of free and professional media, which would be able to secure democracy and to share Lithuania’s good experience in the areas of ethics in journalism, information law and protection of human rights.

According to the project managers, the democratic achievements of Lithuania are acknowledged and positively estimated by the international community and by the South Caucasus countries. After the implementation of the project, it will be possible to expect that the processes of adopting the freedom of press will start also in those countries – journalists will initiate the creation of self-regulation mechanisms and the preparation of the code of ethics.

‘The role of media in democratic systems is especially important at such critical moments, like the elections. Therefore, we are glad that already before the elections the Georgian journalists had a possibility to benefit from the experience of their Lithuanian counterparts and to learn from their mistakes,’ said the project partner Merab Pachulia, director of The Georgian Opinion Research Business International, GORBI Gallup International.

Learn more about the Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion projects of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.