The non-governmental organization Mladiinfo Montenegro attended the conference “MIL Youth: A cornerstone to implementing Access to Information policies in South East Europe” organized by UNESCO.
The topic of the conference was media freedom, the problem of access to information, legal frameworks as well as the problem of fake news.
Lejla Turcilo spoke about the problem of trust in the media itself, the reason being that the institutions prevent the transparency of information, people are overwhelmed by the media but little informed. The focus is on getting young people acquainted with the opportunities that are provided to them, ways of timely and accurate information.
Stefan Janic spoke about the problem of false information in Serbia. Emphasis is placed on online scams as well as that the government supports fake news. One solution to this problem is to organize trainings where young people would learn the tools and ways to detect fake news.
Altin Hazizaj believes things would get worse before it gets better. The main concern is that young people do not have the confidence to stay in the country, but leave it and establish their existence somewhere in foreign countries. The second item is the problem of media independence, the lack of education that would affect the solution of these problems. Also building a culture so that young people respect and appreciate the truth.
Alma Fejzic referred to the question of how young people use the Internet and how to be more active. The conclusion is that young people are not overly interested in this problem, but also that they do not know enough about the media and that they do not have enough space and information. One of the solutions to this problem is to organize trainings where the voice of young people will be heard and where they will transfer their knowledge to each other through interaction.
Ugljesa Vukovic spoke about laws. The basic law represents that everyone has the right to information and access to information. The main problem is access to sensitive information even if the public interest requires the public disclosure of some of this information. Such a problem could be solved by bringing in experts in this field who would work on creating new laws on access to information.
Emina Adilovic emphasized that formal and informal education must be included in order to help young people better understand what they need to better dispose of information. It would also be necessary to organize workshops where young people, journalists, professors and other institutions would cooperate.