The 2nd Eastern Partnership Media conference, organised by the European Commission with the direct support of the European External Action Service and the Government of Ukraine will bring together more than 300 participants from the Partner countries and the European Union.
The conference is an event building up to the 5th Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Brussels in November this year, and the discussions and findings will provide a basis for further considerations at the Summit.
The overall goal of the conference is to draw the attention of EU member states and partner countries to the importance of concrete support to independent media and professional journalism with a view to enhance citizens’ critical thinking in a democratic society.
The Conference will be opened by the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, high level representatives of the Estonian EU Presidency and the Government of Ukraine.
The first working session will be devoted to achieving economic sustainability in independent news and story production under the developing conditions of revolutionary media technologies and media consumption patterns.
Three break-out sessions will focus on:
– comprehensively scrutinising the contemporary pressures on the journalist profession and the needs to adjust the professional skills and working patterns to modern conditions,
– how to deal with challenges imposed on the communication space by fake news, propaganda and similar, and what should be done in order to ensure undisturbed communication of European values and reform efforts by partners;
– the support needed by local (and regional) media – the part of the media landscape of great importance for citizens.
Media in service to the public will be the subject of the last working session. Particular attention will be paid to the obstacles to reforming the public broadcasting sector and to examining successful cases of reform in EU member states and partner countries.
Finally, the chair of the conference will draw summary and conclusions of the discussions held during the conference.
The conference will take place on 13 September in the Hilton Kyiv Hotel (30 Tarasa Shevchenka Blvd, Kyiv, Ukraine) and will be a one-day-event that will start at 9:30 so that the summary and conclusions can be made by 18:00.
One day prior to the conference, the European Endowment for Democracy will give a presentation on its experiences of supporting the media in the diverse environment of the Eastern Partnership countries and beyond. This special event will take place in the same premises as the conference from 18:00 to 20:00 on 12 September 2017.
Please note that only registered participants will be able to access the Conference.