Hilma Unkic

Cross-border reporting is no longer just one of the options in journalism; it is increasingly becoming essential for financial sustainability and investigative reporting, as emphasised at the regional Editors’ Forum bringing together editors and experienced journalists from across the Western Balkans.

Media and communications today represent a critical area of modern political struggles. Issues such as editorial policy influence, ownership concentration, information security and surveillance, the quality of information, and the role of media platforms in public discourse have become central points of discussion. Democratic media are not merely channels of communication but prerequisites for democracy. In repressive regimes, independent journalism operates under pressure or disappears entirely.

Last year, the first phase of the regional „Future of Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey“ study, conducted by Our Media initiative funded by the European Union, was presented. It brought quantitative findings about key trends across the media landscape in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.