The media’s financial stability should serve independent reporting and public interest. So has Brunilda Milkan, manager of the regional Sustain Media project in GIZ, speaking of support for the media in the Western Balkans, within the framework of the Public Voices Forum in Budva in Montenegro.

According to her, continued economic and technological challenges require new funding patterns, strengthening professional capacities and a long-term approach to media development.

Our goal is to work on media sustainability. We have independent and quality media, which faces many challenges. The goal is to help them pass through the stages of developing survival, to meet technological and economic challenges, Milcan said, writes Telegrafi.

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It has explained that the Sustain Media programme, implemented by GIZ and supported by the European Union and the German Government, operates in the six Western Balkan countries. In the first phase, according to her, about 100 media in the region have been supported, including over 15 in Kosovo.

Support includes media sizes and profiles, from commercial media and nonprofit media organisations to local media and minority communities. According to Milkan, this support will continue until 2028.

The financing, it has stressed, remains one of the sector’s main challenges. Traditional models, based on advertising and sponsorship, are facing restrictions, and the media must develop other sources of income along with donor support.

We also want the media to develop new ways of financing. In addition to supporting donors, they can provide services and carry out public financing campaigns, it has indicated.

Speaking of technological developments, Milkan has estimated that they have facilitated and accelerated the production of journalistic material, but at the same time have added to the challenges associated with dezinformation and false news.

Technology has greatly facilitated the work of media and journalists, because they can produce materials faster, but it always requires accountability and seriousness in bringing the news, it has stated.

Milkan has also spoken of the importance of the first edition of the Public Voices Forum, organised in co-operation with Montenegro Government, within the Berlin Process. According to her, the forum was intended to bring representatives of institutions and journalists together to discuss how communication with citizens, with the focus of European integration.

The idea was to bring together all actors who work for public good, to dialogue for European integration, and how the media can help citizens better understand the processes and benefits that come from them, Milkani said.

She has added that institutions should communicate more simply and more directly with the public, devoting time to explaining processes and building confidence.

According to her, the importance of the forum was also linked to keeping it the day before the Berlin Process summit, as discussions and recommendations were meant to be forwarded to leaders of the Western Balkans and the European Union. The goal, it has added, is for the forum to be organised annually. /Telegraph/.