Newspaper journalists and human rights activists are the target of a workshop organised by Internews on how the Egyptian media can change society ’s view of people with disabilities. Issues discussed at an earlier workshop included the media's focus on pity, the role of language in reducing stigma, and the role of the Egyptian press in promoting public policies that benefit the disabled and help integrate them into society. For more information, contact Amira Maaty, Internews desk officer for the Middle East, at amira@internews.org

Volunteers are sought for a collaborative 'European Week Of Monitoring Media Coverage Of Refugees And Asylum Seekers' being organised by PressWise.
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A training workshop for Asia-Pacific television and video professionals is designed to improve coverage of issues affecting Asian elderly, who total 640 million – nearly half the world's elderly population.
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The Macedonian Institute for Media and the Association for Democratic Initiatives, both Skopje-based, are launching their new publication "Macedonia: The conflict and the Media" as part of their "The role of the media in conflicts" conference. Mark Thompson, author of 'Forging War', the best analysis to date on the role of media in recent Balkan conflicts, will open the conference. The film 'No Man's Land' by Danis Tanovic will be screened as the starting point for discussion by a panel that will discuss 'International war correspondents in the conflicts'. The panel will be moderated by Milica Pesic, the Media Diversity Institute's director.

The Media Diversity Institute will present a session at the Council of Europe's conference to mark the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The conference's theme is "Media Representation of Persons belonging to National Minorities and the Promotion of a Spirit of Tolerance and Intercultural Dialogue".
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This seminar was intended to help counteract feelings of exclusion in the societies of the Europan Union's new eastern neighbours. Participants will be from Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. The event was organised by the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam) and Villa Decius Association (Krakow). MDI satt on a panel on "Identities", focussing on various manifestations of nested identities in the region.

This OSCE organized conference focused on "Use of Minority Languages in Broadcast Media". MDI participated.

Participants of the 25th ILGA (International Lesbian & Gay Association) - European Conference looked for ways of building up skills to strengthen the organisation and learn about the latest developments in their struggle for equality. Special attention was paid to better communication with media, particularly in developing countries of Eastern Europe. MDI Director Milica Pesic ran a workshop 'Communicating with Mainstream Media'. Participants of the workshop expressed their interest in attending a comprehensive course on media relations and media campaigns.

The Council of Europe in co-operation with the Liberty Institute, Tbilisi, organized a seminar on 'Building Bridges Between Ethnic Minorities'. Participants - journalists, journalism students, NGO representatives as well as government officials - discussed possibilities for better access to the media for ethnic minorities of diversity reporting. MDI director Milica Pesic ran a workshop 'Ensuring Ethnic Diversity in the Media' where the diversity concept, principles and techniques for covering diversity-related issues were worked through.

The Center for Independent Journalism (Bucharest) in cooperation with the Department for Inter-Ethnic Relations and the Council of Europe held a seminar on 'National minorities and the audio-visual' in Mangalia, Romania. The seminar was held in cooperation with the MDI Romanian partner, Center for Independent Journalism. It was pointed out that even though there was no a proper market yet, there are some 1500 media outlets in this country, three out it public services. There is more and more interest among them to offer their space to minorities, one of the reasons for it probably a generally much more positive atmosphere in Romanian society towards minorities. However, Roma are still suffering from lack of understanding, in great deal thanks to the superficial, stereotyped portrayal they usually get from Romanian media
Milica Pesic, MDI Director held a session on ‘Concept of Reporting Diversity’ as well as a workshop with 15 broadcast/print journalists present at the seminar. The MDI training material (RD manual as well as Training Trainers RD manual) was broadly used. The MDI is pleased that its Romanian partner, Center for Independent Journalism, has been broadly using the same MDI training material as well as MDI philosophy on role of media in diverse societies.
The seminar has shown that minority NGOs need serious training in ‘how to sell my product’ techniques. MDI is planning to design the whole series of media relations workshops for Romanian as well as for the regional NGOs specialized in diversity-related issues.
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"Bereit für den Krieg? Herausforderungen an die Konfliktberichterstattung in der kulturellen Vielfalt"/"Prepared for war? Challenges in conflict reporting in cultural plurality". This working conference was organized by Eine Welt Medien/One World Media, a media NGO based in Frankfurt, Germany. The conference was attended by leading media experts on conflict and conflict resolution. They shared their expertise on the role of media in culturally diverse societies. MDI chaired a session at the conference.

As part of the Independent Journalism Center's (IJC), Moldova, "Diversity and Tolerance in the Media" programme, the IJC held a workshop for Moldovan broadcasters on "Reporting Diversity Reporting Otherness". The workshop was led by Milica Pesic, director of Media Diversity Institute.The agenda included a variety of exercises, case studies and panel discussions. Guest speakers from a variety of minority organizations were invited to share their views on the way the Moldovan media cover their problems. The purpose of the course was to show journalists how to develop ideas for features that reflect diversity.

Dr Frank Ochberg from the Dart Center (USA) For Journalism and Trauma held a presentation on 'Trauma, Journalism and Iraq' at The Guardian Newsroom Archive and Visitor Centre. MDI was represented at the meeting.

MDI's Director spoke on a panel at the Wilton Park conference on "The Role of Governments and Parliaments in Curbing Corruption in Central And Eastern Europe". The MDI session was on "What can the media do to improve transparency and accountability?" Issues discussed included: What can parliamentarians, governments, the media, private sector and NGOs do to curb corruption? To what extent does corruption damage economic development? How can transparency in awarding contracts be achieved? How are political parties best funded? How effective are parliaments and international bodies in tracking and stopping corruption and money laundering? What impact will accession to the European Union have?

The South East European Network for Professionalization of the Media (SEENPM) organized its Fifth General Assembly meeting from 28 February – 1 March 2003 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The Peace Institute, Ljubljana hosted the meeting. MDI was represented at the meeting by Director, Milica Pesic. The South East European Network for Professionalization of the Media (SEENPM) was created in February 2000. It was set up to raise journalism standards, improve media environment on the national and regional levels, encourage cooperationamong media professionals,and in

Transitions On Line and the Central European Review held a workshop for journalists on culture and diversity issues. The participants included journalists from of all states of the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Romania. The workshop was held in Sarajevo, February 2003.

MDI presented 'Diversity Reporting' to students of international journalism at City University, London. The presentation focussed on MDI's activities and experiences in Central and Eastern Europe,