MCERC Annual Report_2021 (ENG)

Address by the Center's Chairwoman

Media and Communication Educational and Research Center has been active for six
years now and the values that have united us as a team for all these years are crucial to each individual member. Media and education are cornerstone of democracy and we recognize that it is particularly important to strive for a healthier media environment and to support education, since they play a significant role in the quality of democracy.

For a fragile democracy such as Georgia, 2021 turned out to be a good indicator of the dangers present in the media environment.The events of July 5-6 (when dozens of journalists were harmed in the process of demonstration coverage, with one operator losing his life), demonstrated that greater focus is needed on human rights protection and on creation of a solidary media environment. Hence, we have set new educational and research priorities in July 2021, amongst which were us contributing to defending fundamental rights and freedoms, working on improving journalist safety conditions and media environment, supporting girls and women’s educations and equality etc.

2021 was a year of important changes for our organization. Our team was joined by young researchers, we have signed partnership memorandums, published research papers, including publications in internationally acclaimed journals. For these achievements we would like to thank our loyal supporters, donor organizations and partners with whom we have shared this interesting journey.
We expect many interesting projects and important changes ahead and we hope our center will contribute to the positive transitions in the country in regards to media democratization and most importantly, protection of human rights.

Sincerely,
Mariam Gersamia
See the report: https://bit.ly/3tOnwWl