OSCE Presence organizes exchange visit for Albanian journalists to Sweden to enhance media reporting on security affairs

Nine journalists from the main media outlets in Albania and two media relations officials from the Ministry of Interior and State Police participated in an exchange visit to Stockholm, Sweden, organized by the OSCE Presence in Albania as part of its small arms and light weapons (SALW) project, from 8 to 11 April 2024. The activity – the second of this kind – aimed at enhancing the media engagement in addressing security issues.

The Albanian delegation visited the newsroom of the Sveriges Television (SVT) and discussed with SVT journalists reporting on security affairs. They also met with relevant Swedish government and non-government officials, including media organizations, and were introduced with innovative awareness raising campaigns in which media acted as a strategic partner on raising awareness and public education.

The recently-developed Awareness Raising and Communication Strategy on the Misuse of SALW identified and highlighted media as a strategic partner to inform and educate the public on the risk and misuse of the firearms, by directly contributing to the SALW Control Roadmap[1] goals.

As part of media development efforts, the SALW project is conducting monitoring on current state of media reporting and assessing the capacity building needs for the Albanian journalist reporting on security and gender-based violence affairs. Based on the findings, the project will further develop a media handbook, followed by training sessions for journalists.

The exchange visit is part of a series of capacity building efforts to enhance the role of media in public awareness raising campaigns and in assessing journalists’ capacity building needs regarding quality reporting. The first media exchange visit was organized in Belgrade in December 2022.

The visit to Stockholm was organized with the support of the Embassy of Sweden in Tirana, Swedish Union of Journalists, SVT, Swedish Police, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and Non-Violence Project Sweden.

The project “Assisting the national authorities of the Republic of Albania to decrease the risk of weapon proliferation and misuse of SALW” is implemented by the OSCE Presence in Albania, with the financial support of the European Union, Germany and France.

[1] https://www.seesac.org/f/docs/publications-salw-control-roadmap/Regional-Roadmap-for-a-sustainable-solution-to-the.pdf