“Citizen journalism is indeed important because citizens are the first and best source of information for good governance and for cases of violation of human rights and freedoms, as they are most affected in both matters. They are the first who will feel good or bad governance, corruption, injustice, especially when someone ignores and violates civil rights and freedoms”, said journalist and CIVIL associate Arben Zekjiri about citizen journalism and its role in society.

Zekjiri thinks that citizens are most directly affected by all the problems a society faces, and that is why precisely they can contribute the most, especially in the most forgotten spheres that national media do not deal with, and these being the local developments and the work of the local authorities.

There should primarily be education of citizens on what is citizen journalism, what is news, what is a journalistic article, how they should report a case of hate speech, and then to continue cooperating with the media, institutions, NGO sector…Citizens need to be explained, through various forms, what is false news, how to recognize it…for them to be capable not to consume false news, spins and various manipulations…If we succeed to educate citizens to recognize false news, then that will be the best defence against their spreading”, considers Zekjiri.

As to CIVIL’s work, Zekjiri said that the organization that has managed to respond to the challenges of time, always responding to current issues and challenges in society, and to contribute towards the public interest in every segment, should continue doing so in the future.

Biljana Jordanovska

Camera and photography: Dehran Muratov