Professionals from six ex-Soviet countries create press councils network

A network of press councils representing six former Soviet countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine, was set up during the regional meeting of mass media self-regulatory organizations that was held in Chisinau on June 9-10, Info-Prim Neo reports. The participants in the meeting considered the time is now opportune for creating such a network that will serve as a platform for regional cooperation, given the joint problems faced by the mass media self-regulatory organizations in these countries. It was decided to set up a working group that will include by a representative of the press councils of the six countries. It will draft the network constitution documents and the short term-action plan. Petru Macovei, secretary of the Press Council of Moldova, was appointed as coordinator of the working group. The event was attended by 32 media professionals. The participants discussed the importance and functioning of the journalistic self-regulatory mechanisms in the six countries and presented reports on the work done by the Press Councils in 2010. The regional meeting of mass media self-regulatory organizations was staged with financial support from the European Union and the Council of Europe.