South East Europe Media Organisation

South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is a regional non governmental, non profit network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in Southeast, South, East and Central Europe. The organization aims to create a bridge between international media activities and the media developments in the region. It has headquarters and national committees in several countries. In total 33 member states or territories are included in SEEMO: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova (with the territory of Transdnestria), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan

SEEMO was founded in October 2000 in Zagreb, Croatia, by a group of leading editors in chief, media executives and professors of journalism and communications from Southeast Europe, in the presence of representatives of international institutions. SEEMO was part of the International Press Institute (IPI) from 2000 to 2015; since 2016 it has worked independently. The Secretary General of SEEMO, who initiated the founding, is since 2000 Oliver Vujovic, a former journalist and expert in public relations, political relations and business in South, East and Central Europe.

Between January 2000 and 2012 (October), SEEMO has assembled over 14,000 editors in chief, media executives, leading journalists and public persons from the region in various meetings. Some of these meetings, like the meeting in Ohrid 2003, involving participants from Belgrade (Serbs) and Pristina (Kosovo Albanians), were the first of their kind in history. Between 2002 and 2004, SEEMO organised 14 dialogue meetings between editors in chief, media executives and leading journalists from South East Europe. In 2005, SEEMO organised the first meeting of private news agencies in SEE and a meeting of editors and media executives in Opatija, Croatia, in October, as also in Tirana, Albania, in November. In 2006, SEEMO organised a regional conference of media representatives from SEE in Vienna, and initiated regular meetings of investigative reporters (first meeting in Opatija, June 2006). SEEMO organised in 2006 and 2007 eight conferences workshops for investigative journalists in different countries in SEE. SEEMO organised several conferences for editors in chief and managers of minority media, like the Conference of editors in chief and managers of Roma media in South East and Central Europe in 2003 (with over 70 participants), Aromanian media in Sofia (2004) and Tirana (2005), Minority media in SEE in Belgrade in 2007. SEEMO organised in June 2008 the conference Media, Marketing and Business in Belgrade (Serbia). In December 2008 SEEMO organised the conference Public Broadcasting in South East Europe in Ljubljana (Slovenia), where general managers of the public services and the chairpersons of the boards of public services took part. In May 2010, SEEMO organised the first South, East and Central Europe Investigative Journalism Days in Montenegro. The second South, East and Central Europe Investigative Journalism Days were in Serbia in May 2011 with topic "Corruption and Media". The third South, East and Central Europe Investigative Journalism Days took place in Chisinau, Moldova, in 2012. SEEMO is organising in cooperation with SECEPRO and International Academy / International Media Center, and project partners Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Stiftung) and the Central European Initiative (CEI) the South East Europe Media Forum (SEEMF), as a meeting between journalists and political representatives. The first SEEMF was in Zagreb, Croatia in June 2007, with the participation of the Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and 200 journalists from South East and Central Europe. Second SEEMF was in Sofia, Bulgaria in November 2008, with the participation of the Bulgarian prime minister Sergej Stanishev and 250 journalists in South East and Central Europe. Since 2008 additional regular SEEMF partner is the Raiffeisen International Bank from Vienna. The third SEEMF was in Tirana in November 2009, and the event was opened by the Albanian President Topi. The IV SEEMF took part, in Budapest on 2 and 3 December 2010. The V SEEMF was in Belgrade, Serbia in November 2011, opened by Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic. VI SEEMF, opened by President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic was in Budva, Montenegro. VII SEEMF was in October 2013 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, and the event was opened by the President of the Presidency of BIH Zeljko Komsic. VIII SEEMF was in Skopje, Macedonia in October 2014. IX SEEMF was in Bucharest from 5–7 November 2015, X SEEMF will be in Belgrade, Serbia on 21–23 November 2016, and XI SEEMF in Sofia, Bulgaria 2017. More on www. seemf. org. SEEMO is co founder of the International Media Center / International Academy. SEEMO is also co founder of the South, East and Central Europe PR Organisation (SECEPRO), founded in 2010, as a regional organisation for PR experts, active in more than 30 countries of South, East and Central Europe. The first SECEPRO meeting was in Ljubljana in May 2011 with leading PR representatives from the region. More on www. secepro. org. 2011 SEEMO started in cooperation with SECEPRO and International Academy / International Media Center, and as project partner University of Vienna, with the annual Istanbul Media Days, as an annual meeting of media experts in Istanbul. The event was organised in cooperation with Bilgi University (2011), Kadir Has University (2012) and the event partner of IMD 2014 is the Istanbul University. More on www. istanbulmediadays. org. With all this partners, SEEMO is organing also since 2013 the annual Commission on Media Policy, that started US President Carter in 1990.

SEEMO actively cooperates with international, regional and national governmental and non governmental organisations and institutions. SEEMO also actively cooperates with other international press freedom and media organisations, including IPI, and it supports and participates in joint regional and international projects and activities.

Helping journalists means also furthering their education. More than 50 workshops and seminars have been organised for investigative reporters and representatives of minority media. Workshops and seminars are organised in partnership with International Media Center / International Academy.