Political Communication and Journalism in the Balkans

Abstract

The process of informing is becoming one of the fundamental social processes, andthe true, fast, accurate and complete information is a foundation of the democratic society and the political participation The method of creating information has become a subject of the academic interest and social practice as individuals from various spheres, such as politics, business and culture are affected by it. Journalism in Macedonia can not be yet called an established profession. Namely, in Macedonia, asopposed to the U.S. for instance, anyone can be a journalist, regardless of his or her education. There are interdisciplinary studies in journalism at the Law Faculty inSkopje, which have been existing for the last 30 years, but for which there is relatively little interest.These trends have made important the professional training of journalists inorder to be able to interpret social reality. Journalists have realized that it is essentialto have a continuous journalist training through innovation of knowledge and aconstructive practice in media. Journalism is less and less tied to talent and skill, andmore to formal education. Many journalists do not have formal education. The journalist power and dignity of profession is directly correlated to the intensity ofmedia's influence in modern society as well as the possibility to manipulate publicopinion - a possibility which is not vested in any other profession, not even in the government itself. Citizens nowadays (readers, viewers, listeners) are much more exposed to journalist interpretation of reality, than to factors that one-sidedly convey individual positions.