Dance Azmanova, a journalist for TV 21, who is one of the participants in CIVIL’s first seminars dedicated to citizen journalism, spoke in front of the cameras of CIVIL Media about her experience at these seminars and about the role of citizen journalism in society.
“I can say that the two seminars of CIVIL on citizen journalism in which I participated, are like support to what I am today – a journalist who is always aiming for the voice of the people to be heard primarily, and then the voice of the politicians, because that is who we are. That is our job.
Media workers in our country, unfortunately, focus on what the politicians say. They constantly quote them. At the same time, they neglect the people, the surveys, they neglect their opinions and views, they put them on the margins.
I think that the process should be entirely different and the opposite, which was also actually the point of the training where we also had concrete examples, concrete tasks that we carried out. These seminars helped me very much and were an excellent basis for my experience as a journalist several years now.
I think that the traditional media have still not been introduced into the concept of citizen journalism, and that further education is needed. Because only a certain part of journalists is educated about what citizen journalism is. On the other hand, the older generations of journalists are also completely exempted from this concept. Therefore, I believe that massive education is needed on that topic, so that we as media workers can contribute more to our society. Let’s not stay only on conveyed views and opinion, but let’s make some kind of change”, stated Azmanova.
As to the question what kind of message she would like to send out to citizens who want to start with citizen journalism, she says:
I would like to tell those who want to learn more about citizen journalism that they shouldn’t wait another day to take a pen and a cell phone in their hand and to rush into action, because we need more people who will be citizen journalists. They don’t have to work in television stations or in other media. We need people who want to make some kind of change in society, and that is a great start”.
CIVIL is implementing the Civic Lenses project for the third year, which is dedicated to education of citizens on citizen journalism as an opportunity for changes in society and criticism of the media that are not dedicated enough to the truth of the citizens.
CIVIL will soon organize regional seminars in Skopje, Kicevo and Struga. For more detailed information for applying for participation at the seminars follow us on our website and Civic lenses Facebook pages.
Maja Ivanovska
Camera: Dehran Muratov
Editing: Аrian Mehmeti
This post is also available in: Macedonian
