TVM is the first privately owned local media outlet in Ohrid, which started its work back in 1992 by broadcasting the first analogue signal in the Ohrid-Struga region. Since then, TVM has become synonymous with ‘Ohrid TV’, as our viewers call us, feeling it is their own – a television station they trust. As we marked our 30th anniversary, we remain firmly committed to maintaining that reputation. The support from the Media for All programme in 2021, funded by the United Kingdom, enabled us to implement the first project – ‘You are Your City’.
We have achieved a lot, gained invaluable experience, and broadened our horizons, which has amplified our enthusiasm. Most importantly, we are continuously finding new ways to connect with our audience, even as interest in television as a medium declines.
In that regard, the grant we received through the Western Balkans Media for Change programme to support our initiative ‘The Community Has Many Faces’ is of great significance to us. The vision behind our initiative was to give our audience the opportunity to shape the content, encourage discussions, share their thoughts on the content, address their challenges, problems and needs, as well as to tell positive, inspiring, and motivational stories.
We have grown as a team, both professionally and personally. From the first video story and our initial contact with Tamara Chausidis, the Western Balkans Media for Change mentor, our entire team was excited and motivated by the opportunity to implement another impactful project. It has been a great pleasure and honour to work with and learn from such a distinguished journalist as Chausidis.
With ‘The Community Has Many Faces’ project, our goal was to give as many people from different groups as possible – women, seniors, and young people – a platform to share their stories. We wanted them to talk about their lives, what supports them, what doesn’t, and what they would like to see changed and to inspire local authorities to consider their needs when developing policies and budgets, as well as to raise awareness within the community that we must take care of one another.
The short video stories we produced captured the attention of our audience. Although we created a platform on our website for citizens to register and participate in ‘The Community Has Many Faces’ by sharing their views, many more people contacted our newsroom directly, expressing interest and suggesting others they believed should be interviewed. This confirmed once again that our audience is drawn to local individuals and stories. It also showed that many people want to be seen and heard, with their opinions considered, and they appreciate it when these perspectives are presented in a visually appealing media format.
The Community Has Many Faces enriched our programme with new content from our production, which involved local citizens and helped us be more appealing to our audience. We are also very proud to have introduced sign language interpretation for the live debates recorded in our studio, thanks to this support.
As a regional TV station, we have been producing prime-time news for hearing impaired people for 15 years. With the support of this programme, we were able to hire Laura, a sign language interpreter, who was previously engaged by TVM on a freelance basis.
This project provided us with an opportunity at the right time to bring our plans to life in order to continue serving the needs of a diverse community. In today’s media landscape, our strong dedication to using social media for interaction with people is a significant change that has greatly expanded our audience reach. The implementation of the project with the support of the Western Balkans Media for Change programme motivated us to create a network through our portal, social media and YouTube channel, significantly enhancing the TV’s informational impact, citizen engagement and raising awareness of key community issues.
Irena Arnaudova, Editor-in-Chief, TVM