The Gordian Knot of Harmful Narratives

The Institute for Communication Studies (ICS) organized a panel discussion where they presented the new communication guide. The event was held on April 11 (Friday) 2025 starting at 10 am at the Holiday Inn Hotel, Skopje. The opening address of the event was given by Vesna Bendevska, Vice President of the Parliament. The discussion focused on recognizing harmful narratives, their consequences on society, the role of the media and politicians in preventing them, and recommendations for responsible communication. At the panel discussion, MPs, editors, and journalists discussed the importance of ethical political communication and the role of the media in preventing harmful narratives in political and public discourse. The publication was presented by Mihajlo Lachtov, MA, co-author of the publication, and Oliver Spasovski, coordinator of the parliamentary group of the “For a European Macedonia” coalition and SDSM MP, Nikola Micevski, coordinator of the parliamentary group of the “Your Macedonia” coalition and VMRO-DPMNE MP, Halil Snopce, coordinator of the parliamentary group of the Vredi coalition and MP of the Alliance of Albanians, Mladen Chadikovski, president of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) and editor at TV 24, Leonora Kaliqi, editor at MRT 2 and president of the Council for Ethics in the Media of Macedonia (CEMM), and Aleksandar Damovski, editor-in-chief of the online media outlet MKD.mk, also gave their opinions. The moderator was Aleksandra Temenugova, a member of the research team and program manager at IKS. The panel discussion was organized by IKS within the framework of the “Use the Facts” project, which is supported by the British Embassy in Skopje. At the invitation of IKS, NEXT-EM dooel also attended the event.