Reporters and Partner NGOs

Albania
Ilda Londo
Project Coordinator, Albanian Media Institute

Mirela Shuteriqi
Lawyer

Ilda Londo has worked as a research coordinator at the Albanian Media Institute (AMI) since 2001. Recently she has been dealing with various research projects in which AMI has been involved, including research on media ownership and concentration, ethnic minorities coverage, media landscape surveys, broadcasting development trends, and self-regulation and ethical issues. Email: ilda at institutemedia.org

Partner organisation: Albanian Media Institute

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tarik Jusic
Executive Director, Mediacentar Sarajevo

Dr. Tarik Jusic works as a Program Director at the Mediacentar Sarajevo. He has a PhD degree in Media and Communication Science from the Institute for Journalism and Communication Science, University of Vienna, an MA degree in Political Science from the Central European University, Budapest, and a BA in Journalism from the Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo. He has conducted numerous research projects and published several articles on the media policies and media-related issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Email: tarik at media.ba

Partner organisation: Mediacentar, Sarajevo

Bulgaria
Assya Kavrakova
Program Director, Open Society Foundation - Sofia

Assya Kavrakova is the Director of the European Integration and Regional Stability Program and the Civil Society Program at the Open Society Institute – Sofia. She has a Master’s degree in Law and a Master’s degree in European integration from St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. She has worked as Public Policies and Outreach Director at the Democracy Network Program (DemNet) of the United States Agency for International Development. She was also the Executive Director of Transparency without Borders Association, the national branch office of Transparency International. Ms. Kavrakova is leading the analytical and research activity of the Group for European Prognosis and Research. She also chairs the Board of Trustees of the Media Lawyers Support Group Foundation. Email: akavrakova at osf.bg

Partner organisation: Open Society Foundation – Sofia

Croatia
Zrinjka Perusko
Head of Department of Culture and Communication, Institute for International Relations (IMO)

Zrinjka Peruško holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Zagreb. Her research interests focus on the analysis of media policy, political communication and media system changes in the context of democratic transitions in Central and Eastern Europe, including the impacts of globalization and commercialization on the media systems and media industry in relation to media pluralism and diversity. Dr. Peruško is Head of the Department for Culture and Communication at the Institute for International Relations, Zagreb, and lectures at the University of Zagreb. She is an expert member of the Group of Specialists on Media and Diversity (MC-S-MD) of the Council of Europe.
Email: zrinjka at irmo.hr, http://www.imo.hr/imo/staff/perusko.html.

Partner organisation: IMO, Institute for International Relations

Czech Republic
Eva Rybkova
Diversity Project Coordinator, Transitions Online

Partner organisations:
Center for Media Studies, Charles University
Goethe-Institut Prag
Open Society Fund Prague

Estonia
Urmas Loit
Association of Estonian Broadcasters

Urmas Loit graduated from the University of Tartu in 1992 (journalism). He worked as a reporter and editor at the Estonian Radio in 1988-1995. He was the chairman of the Estonian Press Council in 1996-2001, and since 1996, he has been the managing director of the Association of Estonian Broadcasters. He is also lecturer of radio at the University of Tartu, and editor, publisher and co-writer of publications on news writing in radio, coping with media, and related topics.

Partner organisations: Meediaseire and Association of Estonian Broadcasters

France
Thierry Vedel
Head of research, CEVIPOF

Thierry Vedel is a researcher with the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), based at the Centre for Political Research (CEVIPOF) in Paris. His research interests cover media policies and regulation, political communication, internet and politics. Thierry Vedel teaches political communication at the University of Paris 2. He is part of the editorial boards of Information Communication and Society, Réseaux and Communication & Strategies. Email: thierry.vedel at sciences-po.fr

Partner organisation: CEVIPOF Policy Research Center

Germany
Runar Woldt
Journalist, "Meda Perspektiven" (F/M)

Runar Woldt works for Media Perspektiven, a monthly journal published by the advertising subsidiaries of German public service broadcaster ARD. His fields of interest include the development of media systems, comparative media research, European communications policies, and the role of public service broadcasting in society. From 1991 to 2001, Runar Woldt had been Head of Research at the European Institute for Media, Düsseldorf, where he was responsible for the Institute’s research programme. He has a degree in Social Sciences from the University of Göttingen, Germany. Email: woldt at media-perspektiven.de

Hungary
Peter Bajomi-Lazar
Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Kodolányi University College

Peter Bajomi-Lazar has a PhD in political science. He is a founding member of the Hungarian Press Freedom Centre and the editor of the Hungarian media studies quarterly Médiakutató. He works as associate professor of communication at King Sigismund College, Budapest. E-mail: bajomi at chello.hu

Partner organisation: Center for Independent Journalism

Italy
Gianpietro Mazzoleni
Professor of Sociology of Mass Communication and Political Communication, University of Milan

Giulio Vigevani
Lecturer, University of Milan Bicocca

Gianpietro Mazzoleni is Professor of Sociology of Communication and of Political Communication at the University of Milan. He is Post-Graduate Coordinator of the MSc Course in Social and Political Communication. Prof. Mazzoleni is co-founder and editor of the scholarly journal Comunicazione Politica, and serves in the editorial boards of the European Journal of Communication and Political Communication. He is currently also chair of the political communication division of the ICA (International Communication Association). His main research interests are in the areas of mass communication, media policy and political communication, and he has co-authored several books on these topics. Email: gianpietro.mazzoleni at unimi.it

Giulio Enea Vigevani is Associated Professor of Constitutional Law and Information Law at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Faculty of Law. He has written books and articles on electoral law, media law and European law. Email: giulio.vigevani at unimib.it

Latvia
Sergei Kruks
Lecturer, University of Latvia

Sergei Kruk is reasercher and lecturer in media and communication culture.
He obtained his M.Phil degree in Media Studies at the University of Oslo in 1997, and a doctoral degree in Information and Communication Science at the University of Paris in 2003. Currently he is visiting scholar at the Indiana Uiversity-Bloomington.

Partner organisation: Providus

Lithuania
Marius Lukošiūnas
Associated Professor, Vilnius University Institute of Journalism

Partner organisation: Lithuanian Journalism Centre

Poland
Andrzej Krajewski
Director, Press Freedom Monitoring Centre

Andrzej Krajewski is media consultant, freelance journalist and translator. He was a Fulbright scholar (1986-1987), Polish TV and radio correspondent in Washington, D.C (1990-1994), editor in chief of Przeglad Reader's Digest (1994-2001), and vice-president of the Polish Journalists' Association (1998-2004). He authored books about martial law Poland, US Solidarity emigrees and the Polish cold war hero, col. Ryszard Kuklinski. Email: andrzej at krajewski.waw.pl, http://www.krajewski.waw.pl

Republic of Macedonia
Vesna Sopar
Head of Centre for Communications, Media and Culture

Veton Latifi
Political analyst, lecturer at the South East European University, Macedonia

Partner organisation: Macedonian Institute for Media

Romania
Manuela Preoteasa
Director, Euractiv Romania

Partner organisations: Center for Independent Journalism
and Concept Foundation

Serbia-Montenegro
Snjezana Milivojevic
Associate Professor, Faculty of Political Science, University of Beograd

Partner organisation: Belgrade Media Center

Slovakia
Rastislav Kuzel
Executive Director, MEMO 98

Ivan Godarsky
MEMO 98

Rasto Kuzel completed his studies at the Philosophical Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava in 1994, and spent a year at the State University of New York, Oswego. After finishing his studies, Mr. Kuzel worked as an aide to the Defense Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava, Slovakia. For the Slovak 1998 parliamentary elections, Mr. Kuzel was recruited by the National Democratic Institute to work as Deputy Director of Elections and Media Related Programs. He was one of the founders of the media monitoring organization MEMO 98, which has been monitoring the media since 1998 and has played a crucial role in improving the standards of journalism in Slovakia. Since 1998, Mr. Kuzel has been working as MEMO 98 executive director. He has also been working as media analyst, consultant and trainer, participating in more than twenty election observation missions or media projects in the framework of OSCE/ODIHR, UN, IFES, NED, NDI and IMS. Email: kuzel at memo98.sk

Partner organisation: MEMO 98

Slovenia
Marko Milosavljevic
Department of journalism at Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana

Partner organisation: Mirovni Institut/Peace Institute

Turkey
Bulent Capli
Professor, Department of Radio Television and Film/Faculty of Communication, Ankara University

Bulent Capli is Professor in the Faculty of Communication, Ankara University. Capli's research and teaching interests include media policies, political economy of media, media ethics and documentaries. He has written numerous books and articles on broadcasting policies, media ethics and documentaries. He is director/co-director of various documentaries. His works have won number of awards in Turkey. He serves on the editorial board of the Culture and Communication Journal. He is currently the chair of the Radio, Television, Film Department.

Partner organisation: Istanbul Policy Center at Sabanci University

United Kingdom
David Ward
Centre for Media Policy and Development

EDITORS

Danail Danov
Program Director, Media Development Center

Danail Danov is a Program Director at the Media Development Center, Sofia, offering media training and consultancy to public and commercial organisations from South-East Europe. He is a postgraduate from SOAS, University of London, CEU, Prague and Sofia University. He worked as a radio journalist at the Bulgarian National Radio, Express Radio and BBC World Service, and lectured media studies at Sofia University and Cornell University, USA. He has published articles on media analysis, radio journalsim and communications. Email: ddanov at mediacenterbg.org

Marius Dragomir
Journalist, Independent Consultant

Marius Dragomir worked for around 14 years as a journalist for various Romanian media. After that he worked as a media writer with the Prague Business Journal. In 2002, Dragomir was a Senior Journalism Knight Fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Atlantic Council of the United States, where he completed a thesis on the reform of the media in post-communist Europe. He is now the author of a media column in the Czech Business Weekly and writes for several other publications, and is also conducting field training for Transitions online. Email: mdragomir at osieurope.org

Quentin Reed
Independent Consultant

Quentin Reed is an independent consultant on corruption monitoring and anti-corruption policy. After completing a prize-winning doctorate from Oxford University on corruption and privatisation in Central and Eastern Europe in 1997, he worked successively as an advisor at the Czech Supreme Audit Office, a reporter at the Prague Business Journal and an author of reports for the Economist Intelligence Unit. He was the editor of the EUMAP reports on corruption and anti-corruption policy in EU candidate countries published in 2002, wrote a handbook for NGOs on monitoring political party and election campaign finance for the Open Society Justice Initiative, and has participated in or assisted election monitoring projects in countries ranging from Russia to Mozambique. Email: quentin.reed at volny.cz

Dusan Reljic
Senior researcher, European Institute for the Media

Dusan Reljic is currently a senior researcher at the German Institute for International Affairs and Security (SWP) in Berlin. He worked between 1996 and 2003 at the Dusseldorf-based European Institute for the Media (EIM). Previously, he was the foreign editor of the Vreme news magazine and co-founder of the Beta Press Agency during the critical years of 1991-'93. After completing his PhD at Vienna University in 1978, he worked briefly at the Yugoslav Cultural Center in the Austrian capital. Mr. Reljic then entered a twelve-year spell with the Yugoslav National Press Agency Tanjug, where he served as foreign correspondent in Bonn and as deputy-head of the world service, designated editor-in-chief, before his forced dismissal in 1991. Email: reljic at debitel.net

Mark Thompson
Independent Consultant

Mark Thompson is the author of Forging War. The Media in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1994, 1999), and the co-editor, with Monroe E. Price, of Forging Peace. Intervention, Human Rights and the Management of Media Space (2002). He has been a media analyst and political officer with two United Nations peacekeeping missions, and was also the first head of media development for the OSCE mission in Croatia. Email: mbt at clara.co.uk