The President of CIVIL – Center for Freedom, Xhabir Deralla, within the three-day school for young leaders at the Peace ForumDialogue, held a lecture to the participants on the topic “Media in politics and propaganda”.

“Media are a transportation means for politics, as well as for propaganda created by domestic and foreign centers of power. Often, they have same or close financial sources. Some of the financiers, on the other hand, have increased their wealth in businesses precisely with Russia. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that big media houses in the ownership of the Macedonian oligarchs have a very permeable filter for Russian propaganda”, said Deralla to the participants.

He outlined that the media are a weapon of mass deception.

“Media are the main distributors of nationalist narratives that are created by centers of power and political structures, inside and outside the country. Those narratives are not always obvious. Such examples are narratives that are behind the cases of EVN and Slupcane, and before also of Arachinovo. Furthermore, the propaganda centers constantly create narrativesthat precisely the Albanians and their political representatives are corrupt”, Deralla stressed among other things in his lecture.

The Ministry of Political System and Inter-Community Relations organized the School for Young Leaders for the second time this year within the Peace Forum Dialogue, which is held on the occasion of marking the 22^nd anniversary of the Ohrid Agreement.

The School was held from August 11-13 in Mavrovo, with lecturers from different academic and political profiles. Among the most well-known names of lecturers at the Forum were former Minister of Defense of North Macedonia Radmila Shekerinska, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani and the National Coordinator of Interculturalism Robert Alagjozovski. Among the lecturers was also former MP and vice-president of SDSM Goran Georgiev, as well as University Professor Marjan Gjurovski from the Faculty of Philosophy, Mersim Maksuti from the Faculty of Law of the Tetovo University, Lidija Georgieva from the Faculty of Philosophy, political analyst Albert Musliu and other eminent names.

The program of this year’s Forum concluded with a video address by former NATO representative George Robertson and the former Ambassador of France, Alain Le Roi, as well as with the lectures of Xhabir Deralla from CIVIL and Clarisse Pastori from the OSCE.

At the three-day school for young leaders, a series of major topics related to the political processes, leadership, interethnic relations, security and other issues at the domestic and international level were treated.

Source: Frontline / Destan Jonuzi